The carbon footprint of chicken, white race, meat and skin, raw
Chicken, white race, meat and skin, raw emits about 1.763 kg CO₂e per 1 kg of prepared product. Below is where that figure actually comes from — every stage of the chain, not a single headline number.
- Processing
- 1.116 kg
- 63%
- Turning the raw product into food: milling, refining, slaughter, curing.
- Packaging
- 0.361 kg
- 20%
- Producing the packaging it reaches you in.
- Transport
- 0.286 kg
- 16%
- Moving it from farm to processor to shop.
How it is grown changes the number by 84%
These are 8 separately assessed production systems for the same product. Emissions are farm-gate — the part the grower controls — and range from 2.707 to 17.103 kg CO₂e. A label on a shelf almost never tells you which one you are holding.
- Broiler; Bleu Blanc Coeur, at farm gatelowest2.707
- Broiler, conventional, at farm gate3.505
- Broiler, national average, at farm gate3.725
- Broiler, Label Rouge, at farm gate5.286
- Chicken, organic, system n°2, at farm gate6.276
- Chicken, organic, system n°1, at farm gate6.297
- Cull hen, organic, system n°1, at farm gate17.103
- Cull hen, organic, system n°2, at farm gate17.103
kg CO₂e per 1 kg of prepared product, cradle to farm gate. Farm-gate figures exclude processing, packaging and transport, so they sit below the full total above.
Lower-carbon alternatives
Each emits less than half as much as chicken, white race, meat and skin, raw.
Similar products
Common questions
- How much CO2 does chicken, white race, meat and skin, raw produce?
- About 1.763 kg CO₂e per 1 kg of prepared product, measured across the supply chain. That is roughly the same as driving 10 km in an average petrol car.
- What drives the footprint of chicken, white race, meat and skin, raw?
- Processing is the largest contributor at 1.116 kg CO₂e, about 63% of the total. Transport is only 0.286 kg — which is why what you eat matters far more than how far it travelled.
- Does how chicken, white race, meat and skin, raw is produced change its footprint?
- Yes, substantially. Across 8 production methods in this dataset the farm-gate emissions range from 2.707 to 17.103 kg CO₂e — a difference of 84%.
- Where does this data come from?
- The WRAP UK Food & Drink Emission Factor Database v2.0, which aggregates peer-reviewed life-cycle assessments. This product's figures come from Agribalyse (ADEME).
Figures from the WRAP UK Food & Drink Emission Factor Database v2.0, which aggregates published life-cycle assessments; this product's data originates from Agribalyse (ADEME), for France. Real values vary by farm, region and method — treat these as the shape of the problem, not a measurement of any one item on your shelf.
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