Meat Carbon Footprint Calculator
Estimate the yearly CO₂e of your meat consumption by type, servings and portion size.
Result
Meat (kg/year)
39.0
CO₂e (kg/year)
1,053
CO₂e (tonnes/year)
1.05
How it works
Food is one of the biggest personal footprint items, and meat dominates it. Commonly cited lifecycle factors are around 27 kg of CO₂e per kg of beef, 12 for pork and 7 for chicken — orders of magnitude that exclude land-use change and vary between farms and studies. Beef sits so high because cattle are ruminants: their digestion releases methane, a greenhouse gas with far greater short-term warming power than CO₂, on top of feed production and pasture. Five 150 g servings of beef a week is 39 kg of meat and about one tonne of CO₂e per year; the same habit in chicken is around 270 kg. The levers are frequency, portion and type — swapping beef towards poultry or legumes cuts this line by 70% or more without going all-or-nothing.
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Frequently asked questions
Why is beef so much higher than chicken?
Cattle are ruminants — digestion releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas — and they need more feed and land per kg of meat. Chicken converts feed far more efficiently.
Are these factors exact?
No — they are order-of-magnitude averages that vary by farm, country and study, and exclude land-use change. They are robust enough to compare meats and see the big picture.
What single change cuts this footprint the most?
Replacing beef — with poultry, fish or legumes — in your most frequent meals. Reducing portion size and frequency comes right behind.
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