Food Carbon Footprint Calculator. Enter your weekly servings of common foods — beef, chicken, rice, dairy, vegetables, and more — and the Food Carbon Footprint Calculator shows your estimated weekly CO₂ emissions from food. See your total gCO₂e per week, a breakdown by food category, and how your diet compares to driving a car. Also try the find Total Annual Carbon Footprint with Household Carbon Footprint Calculator.
Food emissions are measured in grams of CO₂ equivalent (gCO₂e), which accounts for all greenhouse gases released across the entire supply chain — from farming and land use to processing, transport, and packaging. The figures used in this calculator are global averages based on peer-reviewed lifecycle assessment (LCA) studies. See also our Carbon Footprint Calculator.
Beef production is carbon-intensive for several reasons: cattle produce methane during digestion (enteric fermentation), large amounts of land are required for grazing and growing feed crops, and manure releases nitrous oxide. Collectively, these factors make beef one of the highest-emission foods per serving — roughly 27 kg CO₂e per kg of beef produced.
Greenhouse gases (GHGs) include carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), and nitrous oxide (N₂O). They trap heat in the atmosphere and drive climate change. The food system accounts for roughly 26% of global GHG emissions, making diet one of the most impactful lifestyle choices you can make for the climate.
Serving sizes follow standard nutritional portions: 3 oz (85g) for meat, 3.5 oz (100g) for fish, 1 egg, 1 cup for milk and vegetables, 2 oz (56g) for cheese, 0.5 cup cooked for beans, and 1 cup cooked for rice. These align with commonly used dietary guidelines so your results reflect realistic consumption patterns. You might also find our use the Carbon Budget Calculator useful.
Plant-based foods generally produce far fewer emissions than animal products. For example, beef emits roughly 50× more CO₂e per gram of protein than legumes. Replacing just one beef meal per week with beans or lentils can save over 100 kg of CO₂e per year — equivalent to hundreds of kilometres of car travel.
The car equivalent is calculated using an average petrol car emission factor of approximately 170 gCO₂e per kilometre. Dividing your total weekly food emissions by this factor gives you a rough sense of how many kilometres of driving your diet produces in climate impact — a useful way to visualise an abstract number.
These are estimates based on global average emission factors from sources like Our World in Data, the Oxford University food emissions database (Poore & Nemecek, 2018), and the BBC's climate calculator research. Actual emissions vary depending on farming practices, country of origin, and production methods, but the figures give a reliable indication of relative impact.
Reducing beef and lamb consumption has the single biggest impact. Swapping beef for chicken alone cuts per-serving emissions by around 80%. Cutting dairy (especially cheese) and replacing it with plant-based alternatives is the next most impactful step. Even small reductions in high-emission foods make a meaningful difference over a year. Check out our calculate Carbon Footprint (Individual) as well.