Meat Eaters Guide: Methodology - Environmental Working Group

Meat Eaters Guide: Methodology
Table 9. Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Pork Consumption (post-farmgate)
Emission Source kg of CO 2 e per pound of consumed pork
Processing 1.52
Domestic Transport 0.38
Refrigeration (retail) 0.11
Home Cooking 1.64
Waste Disposal 0.16
Total 3.81
Calculation for Total Overall Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Pork Production and Consumption
c. Sources of GHG Emissions
A swine farm operation emits greenhouse gases primarily from manure management and fuel combustion;
swine generate small amounts of methane during digestion relative to ruminant animals. A
third of pork’s overall emissions can be attributed to post-farmgate emissions. Processing (including
freezing and packaging) and cooking each account for roughly 13 percent of pork’s total GHG emissions,
followed by waste disposal (4 percent), transport (3 percent) and retail energy use/refrigeration
(less than 1 percent). 53
4. Poultry (Broiler Chicken and Turkey)
The life-cycle analysis for chicken is based on a large-scale confined broiler production operation in
British Columbia, with 50,000 birds per cycle producing 98,794 kg of broiler sales. 54 Due to lack of
available data, the analysis did not consider more than one chicken site 55 . The model for turkey was
based on input data for a small-scale turkey farm in Pennsylvania 56 that produces three 1,000-bird
flocks per year.
Broiler chicken and turkey production systems involve young hatchery-born chicks raised in a confined
poultry feed mill.
a. Cradle-to-Farmgate Production and Modeling Details for Chicken and Turkey
• Chicks and turkeys are fed a commercial feed ration consisting of corn, soybean meal and
fishmeal.
• Energy used at the farm, hatchery and poultry and turkey feed mills includes diesel, electricity
30
Environmental Working Group Meat Eaters Guide: Methodology 2011