Carbon footprint of beef cattle
Open accessAbstract
The carbon footprint of beef cattle is presented for Canada, The United States, The European Union, Australia and Brazil. The values ranged between 8 and 22 kg CO2e per kg of live weight (LW) depending on the type of farming system, the location, the year, the type of management practices, the allocation, as well as the boundaries of the study. Substantial reductions have been observed for most of these countries in the last thirty years. For instance, in Canada the mean carbon footprint of beef cattle at the exit gate of the farm decreased from 18.2 kg CO2e per kg LW in 1981 to 9.5 kg CO2e per kg LW in 2006 mainly because of improved genetics, better diets, and more sustainable land management practices. Cattle production results in products other than meat, such as hides, offal and products for rendering plants; hence the environmental burden must be distributed between these useful products. In order to do this, the cattle carbon footprint needs to be reported in kg of CO2e per kg of product. For example, in Canada in 2006, on a mass basis, the carbon footprint of cattle by-products at the exit gate of the slaughterhouse was 12.9 kg CO2e per kg of product. Based on an economic allocation, the carbon footprints of meat (primal cuts), hide, offal and fat, bones and other products for rendering were 19.6, 12.3, 7 and 2 kg CO2e per kg of product, respectively.
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Several life cycle assessment studies have concluded that grass-finished beef systems have greater greenhouse gas intensities than feedlot-finished beef systems.
“Using life cycle analysis (LCA), several studies have concluded that grass-finished beef systems have greater GHG intensities than feedlot-finished (FL) beef systems.”
From Impacts of soil carbon sequestration on life cycle greenhouse gas emissions in Midwestern USA beef finishing systems (2018) · cites this paper as Desjardins et al., 2012
Section 2 says grass-finished cattle's lower feed-input footprint is usually offset by slower weight gain and longer methane-producing periods than for feedlot-finished cattle. The Introduction describes carbon-footprint estimation as based on LCA guidelines, but the cited passages do not establish that several comparative LCA studies reached the stated conclusion. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThere remains substantial uncertainty about soil carbon change over time in managed grasslands.
“However, there remains substantial uncertainty about soil C change over time in managed grasslands”
From Impacts of soil carbon sequestration on life cycle greenhouse gas emissions in Midwestern USA beef finishing systems (2018) · cites this paper as Desjardins et al., 2012
The Discussion and Conclusions section says uncertainty in soil carbon change remains, estimating it at ±20% nationally and likely higher at smaller spatial scales. But this discussion concerns land management and agricultural soils generally, not specifically managed grasslands; Section 3.1 says the impact of grazing on soil carbon sequestration was not included. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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- Authors
- Desjardins, R., Worth, D., Vergé, X., Maxime, D., Dyer, J., & Cerkowniak, D.
- Affiliations
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (CA)
- Private Consultant, Ottawa, ON, K2A 1G6, Canada
- CIRAIG (CA)
- Private Consultant, Cambridge, ON, N3H 3Z9, Canada
- Corresponding author
- Desjardins, Raymond
- ORCID
- Desjardins, Raymond
- Venue
- Sustainability
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2012-12-03
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 3279-3301
- ISSN
- 2071-1050 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2080468116
- Cited by
- 124
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 3.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Sustainability (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PolyPublie (École Polytechnique de Montréal) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Sustainable Agricultural Systems Analysis
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Environmental Impact and Sustainability
- Keywords
- carbon footprint, beef cattle, greenhouse gas emissions, economic allocation, hides, offal, rendering, sustainable land management, beef production efficiency, cross-national comparison
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