Richard Hall

The carbon footprint of milk

Richard Hall is chairman of Zenith International.

Following in the footsteps of UK figures for soft drinks from Coca-Cola (see my 1 April blog), we now have new insights on milk from New Zealand’s Fonterra.

One litre of Fonterra milk is reported to have a carbon footprint of 940g. 85% is generated on the farm, 10% in processing and manufacturing, then the final 5% in distribution. 59% is methane, 24% nitrous oxide and 17% carbon dioxide.

Apparently, UK-produced milk has 34% higher emissions because British farmers rely more heavily on concentrated feed.

One day we’ll be comparing carbon footprints on-pack, just like calories.

Source: BevBlog