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Food

One beef meal (200g steak)

Yksi naudanlihapihvi (200g)

71.3
Truecost score
Data confidence: HIGH

Carbon, water, land from most comprehensive food LCA (Poore & Nemecek 2018, Science). Waste/toxicity rough.

A 200g steak carries ~12 kg CO₂e across its full lifecycle and requires ~3,080 liters of water.

Did you know? Skipping one beef meal per week for a year saves more CO₂ than giving up your smartphone.
Transparent calculation

How was this number determined?

The Truecost score is calculated from absolute physical values. Each row below shows the measured value, how it was normalized, and where it comes from.

Dimension Absolute value Score 100 = Normalized Weight Weighted Confidence
Carbon Emissions 12.0 kg CO₂e 9.5 kg CO₂e 100 ×0.35 35.00 HIGH
Water Consumption 3080.0 liters 3840 liters 80.21 ×0.2 16.04 HIGH
Land Use 54.0 m²·year 51 m²·year 100 ×0.2 20.00 HIGH
Waste 0.05 kg 5 kg 1.0 ×0.15 0.15 LOW
Toxicity 2.0 µDALY 162 µDALY 1.23 ×0.1 0.12 LOW
Truecost score (weighted sum) 71.3

Share of your annual planetary budget

Carbon Emissions 1.26%
Water Consumption 0.80%
Land Use 1.06%
Waste 0.01%
Toxicity 0.01%
Source data by dimension

Where do the absolute values come from?

Carbon Emissions
HIGH
Poore & Nemecek (2018): beef herd median 60 kg CO₂e/kg. 0.2 kg × 60 = 12 kg. Includes enteric methane, feed, land use change, processing, transport.
  • Poore & Nemecek (2018): Reducing food's environmental impacts — Science 360(6392)

Most comprehensive food LCA meta-analysis (38,700 farms, 119 countries). Range: 26–118 kg CO₂e/kg.

Water Consumption
HIGH
Water Footprint Network: 15,400 L/kg beef global avg. 0.2 × 15,400 = 3,080 L. 87% green water (rain for feed crops).
  • Mekonnen & Hoekstra (2012): Water footprint of farm animal products — Ecosystems 15(3)

Well-established. Blue water alone ~550 L/kg.

Land Use
HIGH
Poore & Nemecek (2018): beef 164–326 m²/kg (median). Global mean ~270 m²/kg × 0.2 = 54 m².
  • Poore & Nemecek (2018): Science — supplementary land use data

Beef uses ~60% of agricultural land but produces 2% of calories. Drives Amazon deforestation.

Waste
LOW
Packaging ~20g, bone/trim ~30g. Conservative.

Minor compared to other dimensions. Food waste (uneaten) not included.

Toxicity
LOW
~73% of global antibiotics used in livestock. AMR impact difficult to allocate per meal.
  • Van Boeckel et al. (2019): Global antimicrobial resistance trends — Science

AMR health impact real but extremely hard to quantify per meal.

Comparisons

Methodology

Full lifecycle based on Poore & Nemecek (2018) meta-analysis of 38,700 farms. Water footprint via Mekonnen & Hoekstra.

Sources