Milk & dairy: Emissions
Milk versus cheese: where dairy's climate footprint piles up
Milk versus cheese: where dairy's climate footprint piles up What this tab covers The greenhouse-gas footprint of the commodity at a global level, split by lifecycle phase: extraction (or farming), refining and processing, movement, usage, and recycling or end of life. Intensities are per unit of product; the global total combines intensity with world output. Also covers other environmental impacts and the main levers to cut emissions. Emission intensity 3.20 kg CO2e per kg range about 2.8 (median-type value) to 3.2 (global mean); cheese 23.9 · cradle-to-retail global mean, including land-use change Global emissions per year 1,900 Mt CO2e per year 2015 · milk was 30% of 6.2 Gt livestock emissions (by calculation), all species; cattle milk was 1.4 Gt in 2005Per kg (about 1 litre) of milk at retail; cradle-to-retail. Intensity: Poore & Nemecek 2018 (Science), via Our World in Data. Global total: FAO 2023, Pathways towards lower emissions (GLEAM 3, ref. year 2015); FAO 2013, Tackling climate change through livestock (GLEAM, ref. year 2005).
Share of footprint by lifecycle phase
Extraction 79% Refining / processing 7% Movement 14%Footprint by lifecycle phase
| Phase | Intensity | Share | Main sources of emissions | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Extraction | about 2.2 kg CO2e/kg (on-farm 1.5, land-use change 0.5, feed 0.2) | 79% | enteric methane, manure, feed crops and fertiliser | Intensity is much higher where yields are low: average cattle milk in grassland systems is 56 kg CO2e per kg of milk protein, with a range from 21 to over 400. | OWID 2020 supply-chain chart from Poore & Nemecek 2018 (indicative); FAO 2023, Pathways towards lower emissions (GLEAM 3, ref. year 2015) |
| Refining / processing | about 0.2 kg CO2e/kg (processing 0.1, packaging 0.1) | 7% | pasteurisation, evaporation and spray drying (energy-heavy for powder), packaging | Cheese and powder concentrate milk: about 10 kg of milk makes 1 kg of cheese, hence cheese's 23.9 kg CO2e/kg. | OWID 2020 supply-chain chart from Poore & Nemecek 2018 (indicative) |
| Movement | about 0.4 kg CO2e/kg (transport 0.1, retail 0.3) | 14% | chilled collection and distribution, retail refrigeration | Retail chilling is a bigger share for milk than for meat because the farm footprint per kg is small. | OWID 2020 supply-chain chart from Poore & Nemecek 2018 (indicative) |
| Usage | not quantified in this boundary | – | home refrigeration, boiling (common in India), waste | About 19% of food available to consumers was wasted in 2022. | UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2024 (indicative) |
| Recycling / end of life | not applicable as a product; packaging and by-products | – | whey recovered into protein powders and feed; packaging recycling; manure to biogas | Whey that is dumped pollutes water; recovering it adds value. | qualitative |
Other environmental impacts
Nitrogen and phosphorus from dairy farms pollute water, which has driven herd-reduction debates in the Netherlands and New Zealand. Enteric methane is short-lived but strong, so cutting it reduces warming quickly.
Levers to cut emissions
- Feed additive 3-NOP cut methane production by about 33% in trials (FAO 2023).
- Per-animal efficiency gains could deliver 38-46% of dairy emission reductions by 2050 (Chang et al., cited by FAO 2023).
- Ration balancing in India lowered enteric methane over 13%, cut feed costs about 9% and raised milk yield 3% (FAO 2023).
- Breeding for low feed intake can cut methane 11-26% in 10 years (FAO 2023).
- Manure digesters (for example biogas under India's GOBARdhan scheme) capture manure methane.
India
India's cows yield about 2,021 kg of milk a year against 10,961 kg in the US (FAOSTAT 2024), so emissions per litre are higher, as FAO finds for low-productivity regions. Ration balancing trials in India cut enteric methane by over 13% while raising yields (FAO 2023).
Emission figures are indicative global averages from the life-cycle studies named; actual footprints vary widely by site, energy mix and method.