Vegan vs Omnivore Carbon Footprint
Compare the annual carbon footprint of vegan, vegetarian, and omnivore diets.
Based on kg CO2e per kg of food with servings per week inputs for each food category.
Food production accounts for roughly 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The carbon footprint of different foods varies enormously – beef is roughly 60 kg CO2e per kg of food, while lentils are about 0.9 kg CO2e per kg.
Emission factors used (kg CO2e per kg of food, based on Poore and Nemecek 2018 meta-analysis, the most comprehensive food LCA study to date):
- Beef: 60 kg CO2e/kg (avg. across production methods)
- Lamb: 24 kg CO2e/kg
- Pork: 7.6 kg CO2e/kg
- Chicken: 6.9 kg CO2e/kg
- Fish (farmed): 5.1 kg CO2e/kg
- Dairy (milk): 3.2 kg CO2e/kg
- Eggs: 4.5 kg CO2e/kg
- Rice: 4.0 kg CO2e/kg (methane from flooded paddies)
- Legumes (lentils, beans): 0.9 kg CO2e/kg
- Vegetables: 0.4 kg CO2e/kg (avg.)
- Fruits: 0.4 kg CO2e/kg
The gap between beef and vegetables is a 150x difference – switching one serving of beef per week to legumes for a year saves more CO2 than a transatlantic flight. Rice is worth noting: it has a higher footprint than most vegetables due to methane from anaerobic decomposition in flooded paddies.
The UK average diet produces about 2.5 tonnes CO2e per year just from food. A fully plant-based diet is typically 1.1-1.5 tonnes.