# How do I calculate milk collection transport emissions per litre?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/milk-collection-route-emissions-per-litre

Add the diesel used by collection vehicles on village routes at 2.68 kg CO2 per litre and divide by litres of milk collected. Own vehicles are Scope 1; hired route contractors are Scope 3, Category 4. Report per route to find long, lightly loaded runs.

## What to count

- Diesel for collection trucks and tankers.
- Route distance and litres collected per route.
- Chilling at bulk milk coolers, as a separate electricity line.

## Which scope

Vehicles the dairy owns and runs are Scope 1. Route contractors paid per trip or per litre are Scope 3, Category 4.

## Per litre

Divide by litres collected. Combine with chilling and plant figures for a farm-gate-to-plant transport and cooling number.

## Worked example: collection routes (one month, illustrative inputs)

- Diesel: 4,500 litres x 2.68 = 12,060 kg CO2
- Milk collected: 1,500,000 litres
- Per litre: 12,060 / 1,500,000 = 0.00804 kg CO2

Inputs are illustrative; use fuel and collection records.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and fuel card statements (diesel 2.68 and CNG 2.69 kg CO2, IPCC 2006 defaults) into a fingerprinted Scope 1 record. Hired transport goes to the Scope 3 evidence trail, and distance or tonne-km estimates are labelled as estimates.

- [Bulk milk cooler electricity per litre](https://senseible.earth/answers/bulk-milk-cooler-electricity-per-litre)
- [Dairy plant emissions per litre](https://senseible.earth/answers/dairy-plant-emissions-per-litre-of-milk)
- [Hired trucks: Scope 1 or 3?](https://senseible.earth/answers/hired-trucks-scope-1-or-scope-3)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Corporate Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard), [IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy (fuel defaults)](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol2.html), [GLEC Framework for logistics emissions (Smart Freight Centre)](https://www.smartfreightcentre.org/en/our-programs/emissions-accounting/global-logistics-emissions-council/)

Last reviewed 2026-10-21.