The carbon footprint of pork, shoulder upper half, without rind, fat and bone, raw
Pork, shoulder upper half, without rind, fat and bone, raw emits about 1.61 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
- 0.907 kg
- 56%
- Turning the raw product into food: milling, refining, slaughter, curing.
- Packaging
- 0.494 kg
- 31%
- Producing the packaging it reaches you in.
- Transport
- 0.209 kg
- 13%
- Moving it from farm to processor to shop.
How it is grown changes the number by 60%
These are 9 separately assessed production systems for the same product. Emissions are farm-gate — the part the grower controls — and range from 3.296 to 8.284 kg CO₂e. A label on a shelf almost never tells you which one you are holding.
- Pig, conventionnal, Bleu Blanc Coeur, at farm gatelowest3.296
- Pig, Label Rouge, outdoor system, at farm gate3.372
- Pig, conventional, national average, at farm gate3.442
- Pig, Label Rouge, pig with run system, at farm gate4.673
- Fattened pig, organic, system n°1, at farm gate6.275
- Fattened pig, organic, system n°2, at farm gate6.428
- Fattened pig, organic, national average, at farm gate7.288
- Fattened pig, organic, system n°3, at farm gate8.155
- Fattened pig, organic, system n°4, at farm gate8.284
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 pork, shoulder upper half, without rind, fat and bone, raw.
Similar products
Common questions
- How much CO2 does pork, shoulder upper half, without rind, fat and bone, raw produce?
- About 1.61 kg CO₂e per 1 kg of prepared product, measured across the supply chain. That is roughly the same as driving 9 km in an average petrol car.
- What drives the footprint of pork, shoulder upper half, without rind, fat and bone, raw?
- Processing is the largest contributor at 0.907 kg CO₂e, about 56% of the total. Transport is only 0.209 kg — which is why what you eat matters far more than how far it travelled.
- Does how pork, shoulder upper half, without rind, fat and bone, raw is produced change its footprint?
- Yes, substantially. Across 9 production methods in this dataset the farm-gate emissions range from 3.296 to 8.284 kg CO₂e — a difference of 60%.
- 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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