The carbon footprint of eggs
Eggs emits about 4.48 kg CO₂e per kg. Below is where that figure actually comes from — every stage of the chain, not a single headline number.
- Feed
- 2.205 kg
- 49%
- Growing, processing and shipping the crops the animals eat.
- Farm
- 1.32 kg
- 29%
- Emissions on the farm itself — livestock methane, fertiliser, fuel, manure.
- Land Use Change
- 0.71 kg
- 16%
- Carbon released when forest or grassland is cleared to produce it.
- Packaging
- 0.161 kg
- 4%
- Producing the packaging it reaches you in.
- Transport
- 0.084 kg
- 2%
- Moving it from farm to processor to shop.
How it is grown changes the number by 36%
These are 8 separately assessed production systems for the same product. Emissions are farm-gate — the part the grower controls — and range from 1.492 to 2.333 kg CO₂e. A label on a shelf almost never tells you which one you are holding.
- Eggs, conventional, indoor system, cage, at farm gatelowest1.492
- Eggs, conventional, indoor production, cage 2012 rules, at farm gate1.546
- Eggs, national average, at farm gate1.576
- Eggs, Bleu Blanc Coeur, outdoor system, at farm gate1.679
- Eggs, conventional, outdoor system, at farm gate2.045
- Eggs, conventional, indoor system, non-cage, at farm gate2.116
- Egg, organic, system n°2, at farm gate2.186
- Egg, organic, system n°1, at farm gate2.333
kg CO₂e per kg, 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 eggs.
Similar products
Common questions
- How much CO2 does eggs produce?
- About 4.48 kg CO₂e per kg, measured across the supply chain. That is roughly the same as driving 26 km in an average petrol car.
- What drives the footprint of eggs?
- Feed is the largest contributor at 2.205 kg CO₂e, about 49% of the total. Transport is only 0.084 kg — which is why what you eat matters far more than how far it travelled.
- Does how eggs is produced change its footprint?
- Yes, substantially. Across 8 production methods in this dataset the farm-gate emissions range from 1.492 to 2.333 kg CO₂e — a difference of 36%.
- 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 Clune et al. (2017).
Figures from the WRAP UK Food & Drink Emission Factor Database v2.0, which aggregates published life-cycle assessments; this product's data originates from Clune et al. (2017), for global. 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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