Meat Carbon Footprint Calculator
The emissions from the meat you eat — by type, with the substitutions that reduce it most and the flights they compare to.
Emissions per kilogram vary by more than a factor of forty across protein sources.
How the meat carbon footprint calculator works
Emissions per kilogram vary by more than a factor of forty across protein sources. Beef averages about 60 kg CO₂e per kilogram, lamb 24, pork 7, chicken 6, and legumes under 1.
The reason is ruminant digestion: cattle and sheep produce methane directly, and methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas over a twenty-year horizon than carbon dioxide. That is why the beef figure dwarfs the others rather than merely exceeding them.
Formula: emissions = Σ(kg per week × intensity) × 52
Worked examples
| Inputs | Annual emissions | Note |
|---|---|---|
| A typical Australian diet | 2,282.8 kg CO₂e | about 2,300 kg CO₂e a year |
| No beef | 722.8 kg CO₂e | more than halves it |
| Chicken and fish only | 598 kg CO₂e | about 600 kg |
FAQFrequently asked questions
Why is beef so much worse than chicken?
Ruminant digestion produces methane directly, and methane traps far more heat than carbon dioxide. Beef averages about 60 kg CO₂e per kilogram against chicken's 6.
Is lamb as bad as beef?
Lower but still high — around 24 kg CO₂e per kilogram, for the same reason. Both come from ruminants.
Does grass-fed beef help?
Not reliably. Grass-fed cattle often live longer before slaughter, which can offset the feed-production savings. The evidence is mixed and heavily context-dependent.
What is the single biggest change I can make?
Reducing beef and lamb. For most diets they account for over half the food footprint while being a minority of the food eaten.
How do these figures compare to flying?
A short-haul return flight is roughly 250 kg CO₂e. A typical meat-eating diet is the equivalent of several a year.
Where these figures come from
- UK DESNZ / DEFRA — Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors — the flight, fuel and waste emission factors used here
- Scarborough et al. (2014), Climatic Change — Dietary greenhouse gas emissions — the per-diet daily emission figures
- US EPA — Technical Assistance Document for the Reporting of Daily Air Quality (AQI) — the PM2.5 breakpoints the air quality calculator uses
- Australian Government — National Greenhouse Accounts Factors — the official Australian emission factors
Last checked: September 2026. Factors are taken from published government and peer-reviewed sources, each named on the page with its year.