Why does beef have such high emissions?

Cattle produce methane during digestion and beef farming requires extensive land, water, and feed. Methane is about 28x more potent than CO2.

How much can going vegetarian reduce emissions?

Eliminating meat can reduce diet-related emissions by 50-70%. A vegan diet can cut dietary emissions by up to 75%.

Transportation accounts for only 5-10% of food emissions. What you eat matters more than where it comes from.

Estimate the carbon footprint of your diet based on weekly consumption of meat, dairy, grains, and vegetables.

Weekly Beef

lbs

Weekly Poultry

lbs

Weekly Dairy

lbs

Weekly Grains & Vegetables

lbs

Annual Diet CO2

2.45 metric tons

Beef CO21.27 metric tons

Poultry CO20.33 metric tons

Dairy & Plant CO20.85 metric tons

Annual Diet CO2 vs Weekly Beef

Food production is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, varying widely by food type.

Beef: ~27 lbs CO2/lb

Poultry: ~6.9 lbs CO2/lb

Dairy: ~3.2 lbs CO2/lb

Grains & Vegetables: ~2.0 lbs CO2/lb

Annual CO2 = Sum of (Weekly lbs * 52 * Emission Factor) / 2,204.6

A person eats 2 lbs beef, 2 lbs poultry, 5 lbs dairy, and 10 lbs grains/veg per week.