The researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine say overweight people cause excess greenhouse gas emissions because they eat more than thin people and are more likely to travel by car.

Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts compared lean and obese populations in a study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

They calculate that a fatter population needs 19 per cent more food energy for its energy requirements. The production of that extra food requires machinery that emits greenhouse gases, as well as transport systems that emit pollution.

What’s more, the researchers say, a heavier population is more dependent on greenhouse gas-emitting cars to help move around its people who have grown too obese to walk.

via CTV.ca | Obesity killing the planet, U.K. researchers say.