Dairy Products

Material Composition Assumptions

Dairy products span a wide range of processed forms — whole milk, skimmed milk, butter, cream, hard cheese, soft cheese, yoghurt, ice cream, and dried milk powder — each with different processing intensities and per-kg GHG footprints. The CCI score of 4.5 kgCO2e/kg represents a sales-weighted average across major product categories in the global retail market, dominated by cheese (~40% of global dairy value), liquid milk (~30%), and butter/cream (~15%).

The fundamental unit of dairy production is raw milk, which carries the farm-level emissions — enteric fermentation, manure, and feed. Approximately:

• 1 kg of liquid whole milk requires ~1.05 kg of raw milk at farm gate (minimal processing loss): ~1.5–3.5 kgCO2e/kg depending on farming system and region.
• 1 kg of hard cheese (cheddar, gouda, parmesan) requires approximately 10 kg of raw milk after whey separation: ~8–14 kgCO2e/kg.
• 1 kg of butter requires approximately 21 kg of raw milk (fat extraction): ~9–12 kgCO2e/kg.
• 1 kg of yoghurt requires ~1.05–1.1 kg of raw milk: ~2.5–4.5 kgCO2e/kg.

Key upstream inputs to dairy farming include:

• Concentrate feed (soy, grain, molasses): Comprising 20–60% of dietary dry matter in confined or mixed systems. Soy-based concentrates carry land-use change risk if sourced from deforestation frontiers.
• Roughage/forage (grass, silage, hay): Generally lower carbon intensity than concentrate feed; pasture-based systems (New Zealand, Irish grassland) can have lower feed-related footprints.
• Synthetic fertiliser for feed crops: Nitrogen fertiliser used on maize, soy, and grain crops allocated to feed supply.
• Packaging: HDPE or LDPE milk bottles (~30 g per litre), Tetra Pak cartons (~30–40 g per litre), polystyrene or HDPE yoghurt tubs, waxed paper or plastic-coated cheese wrapping, or vacuum-pack plastic film for hard cheese.

The CCI score allocates emissions across all product categories using an economic or protein-mass allocation from the underlying raw milk production system.

Why the Score Is What It Is

Dairy’s 4.5 kgCO2e/kg weighted average is dominated by farm-level biogenic emissions — methane from enteric fermentation and nitrous oxide from manure — which together account for over half the total footprint. This makes dairy one of the more carbon-intensive everyday food categories, fundamentally driven by bovine physiology rather than industrial energy systems.

Enteric fermentation (~38% of total, Scope 1) is the largest single hotspot. Dairy cows are ruminants — their digestive system uses microbial fermentation in the rumen to break down cellulose, producing methane as a metabolic byproduct. An average dairy cow produces approximately 80–120 kg of methane per year, equivalent to approximately 2,000–3,000 kgCO2e annually. Divided across annual milk production of 7,000–12,000 litres (depending on breed, genetics, and feeding system), this yields an enteric emission factor of approximately 0.2–0.4 kgCO2e per litre of raw milk.

Manure management (~17% of Scope 1) generates methane (from anaerobic decomposition in slurry stores) and nitrous oxide (from manure applied to land). Slurry storage pits and lagoons in intensive confined systems produce more methane than spread-fresh or solid-manure systems. Covered slurry stores with biogas capture can recapture a significant fraction of this methane as renewable energy.

Feed crop production (~28% of Scope 3) reflects the embedded agricultural carbon in dairy cattle feed. Soy concentrate sourced from deforestation-risk areas in Brazil or Argentina carries the highest upstream footprint. European-origin rapeseed or domestically produced maize silage carries substantially less land-use change risk. Nitrogen fertiliser applied to feed crops contributes N2O soil emissions.

Processing (~9% of Scope 2) is comparatively modest relative to farm-level emissions, but significant for energy-intensive products. Cheese production involves rennet addition, heating, cutting, pressing, and ageing — consuming approximately 0.5–1.5 MJ/kg of finished cheese. Dried milk powder requires spray drying at high temperatures, adding ~3–5 MJ/kg of powder. Pasteurisation of liquid milk is energy-efficient at scale.

What Drives Variation

Product form creates the widest intra-category variation. Liquid whole milk at 1.5–3.5 kgCO2e/kg is at the lower end of the dairy range. Butter and hard cheese — which concentrate dairy solids by 10–20:1 — are at the upper end (8–14 kgCO2e/kg). Weighted across all dairy product forms in the retail basket, the average sits around 4.5 kgCO2e/kg by mass. On a per-serving or per-protein basis, the ranking changes significantly.

Farming system is the second largest driver. Grass-fed pasture-based systems in New Zealand and Ireland typically produce milk at 0.8–1.2 kgCO2e/litre farm gate — 30–50% lower than intensive grain-fed confined systems in the USA (1.5–2.5 kgCO2e/litre). However, pasture expansion into forest or native grassland negates this advantage through land-use change penalties.

Feed sourcing is particularly important for Scope 3. Dairy farms using certified deforestation-free soy can reduce the Scope 3 feed footprint significantly. Several European dairy cooperatives (FrieslandCampina, Arla, Fonterra) have adopted policies requiring certified sustainable soy for their contracted farmer base.

Manure management technology can reduce Scope 1. Anaerobic digesters converting slurry to biogas and biofertiliser are increasingly common on large dairy farms in the Netherlands, Germany, and parts of the USA. Biogas output can be used for on-farm heat and power, with renewable energy certificates credited against grid electricity consumption.

Grid intensity at the processing facility affects Scope 2. New Zealand’s near-renewable grid (~150 gCO2e/kWh) gives Fonterra structural advantages in processing energy footprint relative to European or US competitors. However, New Zealand exports processed dairy products (mainly milk powder and butter) over very long distances to Asian markets, adding freight-related Scope 3.

Organic vs. conventional dairy shows mixed lifecycle results. Organic farms eliminate synthetic fertiliser but typically have lower yield per cow and per hectare, which can result in similar or slightly higher emissions per litre of milk once system boundary is held constant.

Manufacturing Geography

Global dairy production is concentrated in the EU (28% of world production, dominated by Germany, France, Netherlands, and Ireland), the USA (13%), India (22% — primarily buffalo milk for domestic consumption), Pakistan (6%), and New Zealand (3% — but ~30% of international dairy trade). New Zealand is disproportionately significant in traded dairy because it exports the vast majority of its production.

Processing facilities for liquid milk are typically within 300 km of production farms (short shelf life). Hard cheese, butter, and milk powder are manufactured at larger regional hubs and traded internationally. Major dairy exporter-processor brands include Fonterra (New Zealand), FrieslandCampina (Netherlands), Arla (Denmark/Sweden), Dairy Farmers of America, and Nestlé (Swiss condensed/powdered milk).

Provenance Override Guidance

Dairy producers and brands can override the default CCI score using:

1. Farm-level emission data from the National Dairy FARM Program (USA), the Arla carbon check tool, or equivalent farm audit schemes — the most impactful override.
2. Feed sourcing documentation specifying type of concentrate feed (soy vs. rapeseed vs. grain) and certification status (RTRS, ProTerra, or FEFAC soy sourcing guidelines compliance).
3. Manure management records — whether slurry store is covered with biogas capture, open lagoon, or solid manure system.
4. Processing facility energy data per tonne of milk equivalent, with grid emission factor and renewable energy certificate coverage.
5. IDF-methodology LCA following International Dairy Federation functional unit and allocation standards, enabling direct comparison across producer systems.

Methodology Notes

• CCI score of 4.5 kgCO2e/kg reflects a sales-weighted average across liquid milk, cheese, yoghurt, butter, and cream. This is higher than the raw farm-gate milk figure (~2.0–3.5 kgCO2e/kg) because the product mix includes concentrated products (cheese, butter) with higher per-kg footprints. Published Poore & Nemecek (2018) data yields a dairy category average of approximately 3.2–5.6 kgCO2e/kg across product forms.
• Scope breakdown: Scope 1 dominates at ~56% (2.5 kgCO2e), driven entirely by enteric fermentation and manure methane/N2O. Scope 3 (feed supply chain, packaging, logistics) is ~36% (1.6 kgCO2e). Scope 2 (processing electricity) is ~9% (0.4 kgCO2e). This is unusual relative to most industrial categories — biological emissions at the farm level dominate over supply chain and energy.
• Functional unit: One kilogram of dairy product at retail weight (sales-weighted average across product forms), cradle-to-gate at processing facility (refrigerated distribution and retail excluded).
• Confidence is medium because farm-level emission factors for enteric fermentation are well-characterised at regional level (FAO GLEAM) but highly variable with breed, feed diet, and herd management. Product mix assumptions for the weighted average introduce additional uncertainty.