For restaurants, caterers, and hospitality businesses, learning how to calculate the carbon footprint of food isn’t a scientific luxury. It’s the foundation of credible sustainability reporting and informed menu decisions that actually reduce impact.
In this post, we’ll walk through the methods, data, and standards behind food carbon calculations, and show how ingredient-level accuracy turns complex science into practical climate insight.
A food carbon footprint measures the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced throughout a product’s life cycle, from farming to processing, packaging, transport, and disposal.
These emissions are expressed in carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂e), a unit that converts CO₂, methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), and other greenhouse gases into one comparable value.
In other words, the carbon footprint focuses specifically on climate impact, not on other environmental impacts like water use or land use.
Learn more about the science behind these numbers in our Science & Data page.
To calculate a carbon footprint, you need a scientific framework. That’s where Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) comes in.
LCA is the standardized methodology for assessing environmental impacts across a product’s entire life, defined by ISO 14040 and ISO 14044.
Within this broader method, ISO 14067 specifies how to calculate the carbon footprint of products, focusing solely on greenhouse gas emissions.
So:
• LCA = looks at multiple impacts (GHG, water, land use, pollution, etc.)
• Carbon footprint = focuses on GHG emissions only (CO₂e), as defined by ISO 14067
Let’s walk through how food emissions are calculated, from emission factors to a finished meal footprint.
Before you start calculating, you need to define two things:
• Boundaries: which stages of the product’s life you’ll include (e.g., farming, processing, packaging, distribution, cooking, waste).
• Functional unit: what you’re measuring (e.g., 1 kg of beef, a 400 g meal, or a single serving).
Together, these determine the scope and comparability of your results.
An emission factor tells you how much CO₂e is released per kilogram of a product or activity. Reliable sources include:
• Peer-reviewed LCA studies
• National emission inventories
• Open-source food carbon databases
For example:
• 1 kg of beef ≈ 46 kg CO₂e
• 1 kg of cheese ≈ 8 kg CO₂e
• 1 kg of potatoes ≈ 0.3 kg CO₂e
At Klimato, emission factors are derived from verified scientific literature reviewed and approved by the Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL), aligning with WRI’s Coolfood Methodology. Explore how the Klimato Database was built here.
Once you have your emission factors, you can calculate the footprint of a meal.
Formula:
Carbon footprint (CO₂e) = Quantity of ingredient × Emission factor
Then, sum the emissions of all ingredients in a dish to get the total footprint per serving.
For example: A pasta dish that uses 100 g of beef, 200 g of tomatoes, and 50 g of cheese would combine each ingredient’s emission factor (adjusted for quantity) to calculate total emissions per portion.
This is how Klimato calculates the footprint of every meal served by our customers, one ingredient at a time.
Once calculated, the results can be used in two ways:
• Menu-level insights: Display the climate impact of individual dishes, educate staff and guests, and guide recipe improvements.
• Corporate reporting: Aggregate ingredient-level data to estimate Scope 3 food-related emissions within broader Scope 1–3 assessments.
To ensure comparability, footprints are usually expressed as kg CO₂e per serving or per 100 g, and normalized to a standard meal size (e.g., 400 g).
Klimato’s labeling system translates these results into A–E ratings aligned with the Paris Agreement’s 2030 and 2050 reduction targets, helping guests and teams visualize impact at a glance.
In foodservice, generic averages don’t cut it.
Most food businesses find that Scope 3 emissions—everything outside their direct control—represent 95 % of their total footprint. Without ingredient-level data, these results rely on rough estimates that misrepresent your actual impact.
That’s why scientific precision isn’t optional; it’s the difference between credible climate reporting and empty claims.
Even with strong methods, food carbon footprinting isn’t simple. Common challenges include:
• Data gaps: Certain products lack reliable emission factors.
• Regional variation: Emission factors differ by farming practices and geography.
• Land-use change: Accounting for deforestation and soil carbon adds complexity.
• Supplier data: Limited visibility across complex supply chains.
Klimato’s science team addresses these through continuous data review, partnerships with IVL, WRAP, and WWF, and transparent documentation.
Klimato makes complex scientific data usable for everyday operations, transforming LCA-based information into actionable insights for chefs, caterers, and sustainability teams.
Our methodology:
• Is based on ISO 14067 for carbon footprinting
• Uses peer-reviewed, country-specific emission factors
• Covers 4,000+ ingredients across 100 countries
• Integrates directly with procurement and sales data
• Generates Scope 1–3 compatible reports
See how our Environmental Reports transform emissions data into business insights.
Q: What’s the most common method for calculating food emissions?
A: Attributional LCA is the standard—it measures emissions directly linked to producing a product.
Q: Can small food businesses calculate their own footprints?
A: Yes. Begin by focusing on key ingredients and using reliable emission factors from open databases or trusted tools.
Q: Why are ingredient-level calculations better?
A: They improve accuracy, transparency, and enable credible Scope 3 reporting—a growing requirement under CSRD.
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