Free Food Carbon Footprint calculator with clear step-by-step results.
Applies a life-cycle emission factor to a specific quantity of one food, then shows how food waste inflates the real footprint of what you eat. Throwing away 15% of a purchase raises the emissions per kilo consumed by nearly 18%, and none of that waste appears in a standard diet calculation.
Total footprint
kgCO2e = mass kg x emission factor for the food
Footprint per kilo eaten
Per kg eaten = total footprint / (mass x (1 - waste share))
Enteric methane from rumen fermentation, a long growing period and low feed conversion efficiency combine to make ruminant meat roughly five times the intensity of poultry.
No - they cover production through to retail. Household cooking and refrigeration typically add a further 5-10%, more for long-cooked dishes.