Food · emission factor
The Carbon Footprint of Cheese
1,350 g CO₂e / 100g
Cheese carries a footprint of roughly 1,350 g CO₂e per 100 grams, making it the highest-emission food that doesn't involve slaughtering an animal. That's more than pork (1,220 g) and over twice chicken (620 g). The reason is simple: cheese is concentrated milk, and milk comes from methane-producing ruminants.
Why cheese has such a high footprint
Cheese's emissions trace back to dairy cattle. Cows are ruminants: their digestion produces methane, a greenhouse gas roughly 80 times more warming than CO₂ over 20 years. Livestock overall account for around 14-15% of global greenhouse gas emissions according to the FAO, with cattle the largest contributor. The concentration effect matters too — it takes roughly 10 litres of milk to make 1 kg of hard cheese, so every kilogram of cheese inherits the methane, feed production, manure management, and land use of all that milk. Milk itself sits at just 320 g CO₂e per 100g in the same dataset; concentrating it into cheese multiplies the footprint per gram about fourfold. Aged, hard cheeses generally require more milk than fresh, soft ones, which is why cheddar or parmesan typically outrank mozzarella or ricotta.
How cheese compares with other foods
At 1,350 g CO₂e per 100g, cheese sits in an unusual position: below beef (2,990 g) and lamb (2,420 g), but above pork (1,220 g), chicken (620 g), fish (550 g), and eggs (450 g). This surprises many vegetarians — a cheese-heavy diet can carry a larger footprint than one containing moderate amounts of poultry or fish. Plant-based alternatives are far lower: tofu and nuts sit around 200 g, beans at 100 g, and vegetables near 50 g per 100g. Research by Poore and Nemecek published in Science in 2018 confirmed this pattern across thousands of farms worldwide: what you eat matters far more than where it comes from, with production — not transport — driving the overwhelming majority of dairy emissions.
Does cheese type or origin matter?
Yes, though less than the animal it comes from. Hard, aged cheeses need the most milk per kilogram and tend to have the highest footprints; fresh cheeses like cottage cheese or ricotta need less. Sheep and goat cheeses come from smaller ruminants that still produce methane, so they are not automatically lower-carbon. Transport is a minor factor — for most foods it represents under 10% of the total footprint, so a local cheddar and an imported one are closer than intuition suggests. What moves the needle is quantity and frequency: cheese is often eaten in small portions, so a 30 g serving works out to roughly 400 g CO₂e — meaningful, but manageable if it isn't a daily centrepiece.
How cheese compares
How to reduce this footprint
- ✓ Treat cheese as a flavouring rather than a main ingredient — a strong aged cheese in small amounts delivers taste with a fraction of the emissions.
- ✓ Swap some hard cheese for fresh, soft varieties, which need less milk per kilogram to produce.
- ✓ Try plant-based sources of savoury richness like nutritional yeast, miso, or nuts (around 200 g CO₂e per 100g) in cooked dishes.
- ✓ Track your dairy intake for a couple of weeks — logging meals in an app like Decarbonr makes it easy to see how much of your food footprint cheese actually represents.
Frequently asked questions
Is cheese worse for the climate than meat?
It depends on the meat. At 1,350 g CO₂e per 100g, cheese emits less than beef (2,990 g) or lamb (2,420 g) but more than pork (1,220 g), chicken (620 g), or fish (550 g). A vegetarian diet heavy in cheese can therefore out-emit one with moderate poultry.
Why does cheese have a higher footprint than milk?
It takes roughly 10 litres of milk to produce 1 kg of hard cheese, so the emissions from all that milk are concentrated into a smaller weight. Milk sits at about 320 g CO₂e per 100g, while cheese reaches 1,350 g — about four times more per gram.
Does buying local cheese reduce its carbon footprint?
Only marginally. Transport typically accounts for under 10% of a food's emissions; the bulk of cheese's footprint comes from methane from dairy cattle, feed production, and land use. Eating slightly less cheese, or choosing fresher varieties, cuts emissions far more than buying local.
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Sources & methodology: see Research & scientific references. Figures are averages used by the Decarbonr app; real-world values vary by production system, country, and occupancy.