The carbon footprint of fish (farmed)
Fish (farmed) emits about 11.516 kg CO₂e per 1 kg of edible fish. Below is where that figure actually comes from — every stage of the chain, not a single headline number.
- Farm
- 8.056 kg
- 70%
- Emissions on the farm itself — livestock methane, fertiliser, fuel, manure.
- Feed
- 1.834 kg
- 16%
- Growing, processing and shipping the crops the animals eat.
- Land Use Change
- 1.195 kg
- 10%
- Carbon released when forest or grassland is cleared to produce it.
- Transport
- 0.248 kg
- 2%
- Moving it from farm to processor to shop.
- Packaging
- 0.138 kg
- 1%
- Producing the packaging it reaches you in.
- Processing
- 0.045 kg
- 0%
- Turning the raw product into food: milling, refining, slaughter, curing.
How it is grown changes the number by 49%
These are 12 separately assessed production systems for the same product. Emissions are farm-gate — the part the grower controls — and range from 0.056 to 0.109 kg CO₂e. A label on a shelf almost never tells you which one you are holding.
- Wheat straw, animal feed, average practiceslowest0.056
- Triticale straw, animal feed, average practices0.062
- Barley straw, animal feed, average practices0.07
- Chicory witloof, late, conventional, root production, at farm gate0.074
- Chicory witloof, season, conventional, NH3, storage and forcing, at farm gate0.078
- Chicory witloof, season, conventional, root production, at farm gate0.081
- Palm fruit bunch, without deforestation, animal feed, at farm gate0.098
- Hemp, straw, ret, Champagne, at farm gate0.1
- Chicory witloof, early, conventional, root production, at farm gate0.104
- Chicory witloof, season, organic, root production, at farm gate0.104
- Optimized seaweed production, 1kg algae (Laminaria), fresh weight0.106
- Lettuce, autumn under tunnel, conventional, at farm gate0.109
kg CO₂e per 1 kg of edible fish, 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 fish (farmed).
Similar products
Common questions
- How much CO2 does fish (farmed) produce?
- About 11.516 kg CO₂e per 1 kg of edible fish, measured across the supply chain. That is roughly the same as driving 68 km in an average petrol car.
- What drives the footprint of fish (farmed)?
- Farm is the largest contributor at 8.056 kg CO₂e, about 70% of the total. Transport is only 0.248 kg — which is why what you eat matters far more than how far it travelled.
- Does how fish (farmed) is produced change its footprint?
- Yes, substantially. Across 12 production methods in this dataset the farm-gate emissions range from 0.056 to 0.109 kg CO₂e — a difference of 49%.
- 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 Poore & Nemecek (2018).
Figures from the WRAP UK Food & Drink Emission Factor Database v2.0, which aggregates published life-cycle assessments; this product's data originates from Poore & Nemecek (2018), 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.
Shred what you can't cut
Diet is one of the biggest levers you control. For the rest, retire verified carbon credits — with the serial number to prove it.