The carbon footprint of peas
Peas emits about 0.857 kg CO₂e per 1 kg of fresh produce. Below is where that figure actually comes from — every stage of the chain, not a single headline number.
- Farm
- 0.717 kg
- 84%
- Emissions on the farm itself — livestock methane, fertiliser, fuel, manure.
- Transport
- 0.095 kg
- 11%
- Moving it from farm to processor to shop.
- Packaging
- 0.045 kg
- 5%
- Producing the packaging it reaches you in.
How it is grown changes the number by 81%
These are 11 separately assessed production systems for the same product. Emissions are farm-gate — the part the grower controls — and range from 0.115 to 0.591 kg CO₂e. A label on a shelf almost never tells you which one you are holding.
- Winter pea, from intercrop, organic, system n°4, at farm gatelowest0.115
- Spring pea, conventional, 15% moisture, animal feed, at farm gate, production0.195
- Winter pea, conventional, 15% moisture, at farm gate0.212
- Spring pea, from intercrop, organic, system n°2, at farm gate0.257
- Spring pea, from intercrop, organic, system n°1, at farm gate0.274
- Winter pea, from intercrop, organic, system n°7, at farm gate0.275
- Winter pea, from intercrop, organic, system n°5, at farm gate0.285
- Winter pea, from intercrop, organic, system n°6, at farm gate0.317
- Winter pea, from intercrop, organic, system n°2, at farm gate0.356
- Winter pea, from intercrop, organic, system n°3, at farm gate0.585
- Winter pea, from intercrop, organic, system n°1, at farm gate0.591
kg CO₂e per 1 kg of fresh produce, 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 peas.
Similar products
Common questions
- How much CO2 does peas produce?
- About 0.857 kg CO₂e per 1 kg of fresh produce, measured across the supply chain. That is roughly the same as driving 5 km in an average petrol car.
- What drives the footprint of peas?
- Farm is the largest contributor at 0.717 kg CO₂e, about 84% of the total. Transport is only 0.095 kg — which is why what you eat matters far more than how far it travelled.
- Does how peas is produced change its footprint?
- Yes, substantially. Across 11 production methods in this dataset the farm-gate emissions range from 0.115 to 0.591 kg CO₂e — a difference of 81%.
- 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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