Measuring and Mitigating GHGs: Chicken

The document analyzes the GHG emissions of chicken production, noting that cradle-to-retail meat averages 7–10 kgCO2e/kg edible weight (EW). Feed, particularly land-use change (LUC) from soy and oil palm, is the primary emission driver. The report compares broiler, layer, and backyard systems, highlighting that conventional industrial farming generally has lower emissions than organic systems due to better feed conversion and bird performance. Mitigation focuses on deforestation-free feed, optimized diets, and improved manure management.

• Cradle-to-retail greenhouse gas emissions for chicken meat average 7–10 kgCO2e/kg edible weight (EW), with a total range from 2.6 to 20 kgCO2e/kg EW. The majority of this footprint occurs from cradle-to-farm gate, averaging 6.4 kgCO2e/kg EW.
• Feed is the largest source of emissions, and land-use change (LUC) associated with soy and oil palm significantly increases the footprint. While feed emissions without LUC average 2.643.4 kgCO2e/kg EW for broiler systems, LUC can essentially double these emissions, contributing an additional 1.5 to nearly 3.5 kgCO2e/kg EW.
• Industrial broiler systems, which account for about 90% of global chicken meat, have an average GHG emission intensity of 6.4189.719 kgCO2e/kg EW. Within industrial farms, conventional farming has the lowest emissions (4.6 kgCO2e/kg EW) compared to non-organic free-range (5.5 kgCO2e/kg EW) and organic (6.7 kgCO2e/kg EW) systems, as organic systems suffer from lower bird performance and less efficient feed conversion.
• On-farm energy use, primarily for heating (8090% of broiler energy), contributes an average of 0.7 kgCO2e/kg EW meat. Post-farm emissions, including slaughter, processing, transport, and packaging, contribute an average of 0.516 to 0.917 kgCO2e/kg EW.
• Manure management contributes an average of 0.4 kgCO2e/kg EW, with a range of 0.3 to 3.3 kgCO2e/kg EW. Mitigation options such as anaerobic digestion can reduce emissions by over 75%, while solid-liquid separation can reduce methane by 30%.
• Regional variations in emissions are largely driven by feed sourcing and animal efficiency. For example, feed emissions without LUC are as low as 2.2 kgCO2e/kg EW in Russia and as high as 5.8 kgCO2e/kg EW in East and Southeast Asia.

APA

Kim, D., Parajuli, R., Harris, N., Kim, C., & Thoma, G. (2022). Measuring and Mitigating GHGs: Chicken. WWF International. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/116/fc8bl1h7k_MOBERG_GHG_Brief_CHICKEN_06_22_v5.pdf

Chicago

Kim, Daesoo, Ranjan Parajuli, Nicole Harris, Claire Kim, and Greg Thoma. Measuring and Mitigating GHGs: Chicken. WWF International, 2022. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/116/fc8bl1h7k_MOBERG_GHG_Brief_CHICKEN_06_22_v5.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kim |first1=Daesoo |last2=Parajuli |first2=Ranjan |last3=Harris |first3=Nicole |last4=Kim |first4=Claire |last5=Thoma |first5=Greg |title=Measuring and Mitigating GHGs: Chicken |publisher=WWF International |date=10 September 2022 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/116/fc8bl1h7k_MOBERG_GHG_Brief_CHICKEN_06_22_v5.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kim2022measuring, author = {Kim, Daesoo and Parajuli, Ranjan and Harris, Nicole and Kim, Claire and Thoma, Greg}, title = {{Measuring and Mitigating GHGs: Chicken}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2022}, month = sep, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/116/fc8bl1h7k_MOBERG_GHG_Brief_CHICKEN_06_22_v5.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }