# What is the carbon footprint of a slaughterhouse per tonne of meat?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/slaughterhouse-carbon-footprint-per-tonne

The plant's own share is electricity for chilling and freezing, boiler fuel for hot water, refrigerant leaks and methane from effluent ponds. The animals raised for it carry a far larger upstream footprint, which belongs in Scope 3. Divide plant emissions by tonnes of dressed meat.

## Plant sources

- Scope 2: chillers, blast freezers, lighting.
- Scope 1: boiler fuel, refrigerant leaks, effluent methane from open ponds.
- Scope 3: animals bought, packaging, transport.

## Effluent

Open anaerobic lagoons release methane. Covered digesters that capture and burn the gas cut it sharply.

## 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.

- [Poultry processing per kg](https://senseible.earth/answers/poultry-processing-carbon-footprint-per-kg)
- [Gelatin plant emissions](https://senseible.earth/answers/gelatin-plant-emissions-per-tonne)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Corporate Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard), [IPCC 2006 Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/)

Last reviewed 2026-10-22.