Maria Girich, Researcher of the International Best Practices Analysis Department at the Gaidar Institute, in a commentary for RIA Novosti estimated the carbon footprint of cooking a traditional New Year's salad. According to her estimates, cooking the ingredients for Olivier salad on a gas stove can result in the emission of almost 0.5 kg of carbon dioxide.
The expert explained that the main contributor is gas combustion. "It's worth considering that burning one cubic meter of gas releases approximately 1.85 kg of CO₂. Therefore, cooking for 30 minutes will release CO₂ 0.23 - 0.28 kg, while 50 minutes will result in CO₂ 0.39 - 0.46 kg emission," stated Maria Girich.
These figures are based on gas consumption during standard cooking: 50 minutes cooking on a burner can consume between 0.21 and 0.25 gas cubic meters. Cooking potatoes and carrots together in a single saucepan, reducing cooking time to 30 minutes, the consumption will be between 0.125 and 0.15 cubic meters, which correspondingly reduces emissions, the expert noted.