How do I calculate the carbon footprint of peanut butter per kg?

Groundnuts are the main input: multiply the kernels per kg by the supplier's figure. Add roasting, blanching, grinding and filling energy and the jars, then divide the plant's energy by kg packed.

Ingredients

• Groundnut kernels by weight.
• Sugar, salt and oil.
• PET or glass jars with caps.

Process

• Roasting with gas or electric roasters.
• Blanching and grinding.
• Filling, capping and labelling.

Per kg

Report per kg with the pack shown separately, since a glass jar weighs far more than PET.

Worked example: peanut butter unit per kg (one month)

• Electricity: 6,000 kWh x 0.710 = 4,260 kg CO2
• LPG: 1,500 kg x 2.98 = 4,470 kg CO2
• Peanut butter packed (kg): 60,000
• Plant total: 8,730 / 60,000 = 0.145 kg CO2 per kg
• Add groundnuts and jars for the full figure

Inputs are illustrative; use your own bills and production records.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads the plant's electricity bills (CEA grid factor 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, CO2 Baseline Database version 21.0) and fuel invoices (IPCC 2006 defaults) into a fingerprinted Scope 1 and 2 record, the plant-level input to a per-unit figure. Bought-in materials go to the supplier evidence trail; product reports are self-declared drafts.

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Sources: GHG Protocol Product Standard, ISO 14067:2018, Carbon footprint of products (iso.org), IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy (fuel defaults), CEA CO2 Baseline Database, version 21.0

Last reviewed 2026-10-20.