# Soybeans: Emissions

Why beans from cleared land carry a heavier footprint

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soybeans/emissions/

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 0.50 t CO2e per t range about 0.3-0.7 without land-use change; several t CO2e/t where the beans come from recently cleared land · cradle-to-gate including inland transport, excluding deforestation Global emissions per year 220 Mt CO2e per year 2026/27 · 0.5 t CO2e/t x 443 Mt, excluding land-use change (indicative)

Per t of soybeans delivered to port or crusher; cradle-to-gate excluding land-use change unless stated. Intensity: ecoinvent / Agri-footprint based summaries (indicative); Agri-footprint 6.3 Brazil values imply about 4.0 kg CO2e/kg meal and 7.8 kg/kg oil with LUC (derived from Donau Soja factsheet, 2025). Global total: derived from USDA PSD and indicative intensity; Escobar et al. 2020 put CO2 embodied in Brazil's soy exports at 223 Mt over 2010-2015.

#### Share of footprint by lifecycle phase
 Extraction 70% Refining / processing 5% Movement 25%

#### Footprint by lifecycle phase

| Phase | Intensity | Share | Main sources of emissions | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Extraction** | about 0.35 t CO2e/t without LUC | 70% | diesel, lime and fertiliser (soy fixes its own nitrogen, so little N fertiliser), plus deforestation and Cerrado conversion where it occurs | soy from some Cerrado municipalities carries up to 200 times the emissions of soy from elsewhere in Brazil | indicative; Escobar et al. 2020, Global Environmental Change 62:102067 |
| **Refining / processing** | about 0.03 t CO2e/t for drying and storage | 5% | grain drying and elevators; crushing (outside this boundary) uses steam and hexane | crushing allocates emissions between meal and oil | indicative |
| **Movement** | about 0.12 t CO2e/t | 25% | long truck hauls from Mato Grosso to ports; Panamax to China | in some inland centre-west municipalities transport is about 60% of total emissions | Escobar et al. 2020 (via Mongabay, June 2020); indicative |
| **Usage** | not in the boundary | – | meal fed to livestock and fish; oil eaten or burned as biodiesel and renewable diesel | biodiesel combustion CO2 is biogenic; its climate benefit depends on avoided land-use change | not quantified |
| **Recycling / end of life** | not applicable | – | hulls to feed; used soybean oil collected for biodiesel | used cooking oil biodiesel saves roughly 80-90% of fossil diesel emissions | EU Renewable Energy Directive II default values (indicative) |

#### Other environmental impacts

Deforestation and Cerrado conversion are the main issue. China took 51% and the EU about 30% of the CO2 embodied in Brazil's soy exports in 2010-2015 (Escobar et al. 2020). The EU Deforestation Regulation will require proof of deforestation-free supply.

#### Levers to cut emissions

- Deforestation-free sourcing: the Amazon Soy Moratorium and the EU Deforestation Regulation
- Expansion onto degraded pasture instead of native vegetation
- Rail and waterway corridors to northern ports to cut long truck hauls
- No-till and biological inputs; soy needs little nitrogen fertiliser

#### India

India's rain-fed, non-GM crop of about 10-11 Mt is not linked to recent deforestation, but India is the largest soybean oil importer (35.3% of 2024 import value), mainly from Argentina and Brazil, so it imports land-use-change emissions (UN Comtrade 2024).
 Emission figures are indicative global averages from the life-cycle studies named; actual footprints vary widely by site, energy mix and method.

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soybeans/index.md)
- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soybeans/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soybeans/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soybeans/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soybeans/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soybeans/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soybeans/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soybeans/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soybeans/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soybeans/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soybeans/characteristics/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soybeans/links/index.md)