Chicken: carbon footprint per kg
Live factor value
6.28 kgCO2e per kg
Source: The Big Climate Database (CONCITO, Denmark), 1.2 (revision 1). Factor set bcd-1.2-r1.
Chicken is the lowest-footprint mainstream meat: the figure below, for raw chicken breast from Denmark's official Big Climate Database, is a small fraction of beef's per-kg footprint because poultry produce no digestive methane and convert feed efficiently.
That said, plant proteins still undercut it — lentils and beans carry a fraction of chicken's footprint per kilogram. As a rule of thumb the protein ladder runs: pulses, then poultry and eggs, then pork, then dairy-heavy foods, with beef and lamb at the top.
Worked example
One 300 g chicken breast pack: 0.3 × 6.28 = 1.9 kgCO2e.
Measure your own with the free food calculator.
Frequently asked questions
- How does chicken compare with beef?
- Per kilogram, chicken's footprint is typically five to ten times lower than beef's — poultry produce no ruminant methane and need far less feed and land per kg of meat.