It seems the nation is dreaming of a “green” Christmas this year, with "eco friendly Christmas" searches trending up by 50% in the past week.

While Brits are already searching for eco-friendly Christmas trees, wrapping paper, crackers and gifts, there's one key item being missed from the green agenda - the Christmas dinner.

The average CO2 footprint per person hits more than 200kg over the festive season, when you account for gifts, travel, fairy lights, drink and of course, all the delicious food.

Luckily, here at Conference Aston we've developed one of the UK's greenest Christmas dinners (and we're not talking about sprouts!) so you can have your eco-friendly dinner - and the pudding too.

Carbon Friendly Festive Favourites

Measuring the carbon impact of festive favourites, Conference Aston has designed the 'greenest Christmas dinner' - and it turns out, the classics are the best for “going green” this Christmas.

Aiming for dishes with a low-medium climate impact of no more than 1.6kg of CO2 emissions per dish helps manage your carbon footprint and contribute towards climate goals. Conference Aston have a climate-friendly trio of dishes on our Christmas 2024 party night menus, where you can start things off with a pancetta, brie and cranberry croquette 0.234Kg CO2e with cauliflower puree, get the main show on the road with turkey and all the trimmings 1.204KG CO2e, and finish off with Christmas pudding 0.31KG CO2e, quince jam and white rum vanilla sauce.

Each dish is just 0.2-1.2KG CO2e, making it the perfect three-course climate friendly celebration.

With two-thirds of UK diners now considering plant-based options (and searches for ‘Christmas vegan main course’ up 200% in the past week), the vegan charred hispi cabbage, saffron chickpea hummus, peperonata sauce, chilli oil and crispy chickpeas on Conference Aston’s Christmas menu offers another low-emission dish, perfect for any taste, to celebrate the festive season while keeping things planet friendly.

 Paul Harris, Executive Head Chef at Conference Aston, said: “In our kitchen, we prioritise healthy, sustainable and responsible menu development, without compromising on flavour. The green Christmas dinner is a great way of helping diners to realise the carbon footprint of food, and the importance of choosing sustainable options whenever you can.”