An analysis found that annual greenhouse gas emissions from domestic meat consumption amount to about 56.94 million t (in CO2-equivalent terms). This is about 34% of the annual emissions from all coal-fired power plants in the country.

According to the report ‘Meat, From Farm to Store: A Full Life Cycle Carbon Footprint Analysis of Domestic Meat Consumption’ released by Climate Solutions on the 29th, greenhouse gas emissions for domestically produced beef amount to 58.15㎏ (CO2e) per 1㎏ of retail meat. This is about 4.4 times that of pork (13.36㎏) and about 10.8 times that of chicken (5.36㎏).

The high greenhouse gas emissions for beef are attributed to the long rearing period, large feed inputs, and methane released during digestion. Methane has a stronger warming effect than carbon dioxide and is regarded as a major source of emissions in ruminant husbandry.

As of 2024, domestic meat consumption is about 3.081 million t, and applying carbon footprint coefficients yields an estimated total of about 56.94 million t in greenhouse gas emissions. This equals about 34% of the annual emissions from domestic coal-fired power plants and about 2.6 times the emissions of the Taean Power Complex, the largest coal-fired power plant in the country.

Annual per-capita meat consumption in Korea was 61.4㎏: 15㎏ of beef, 30.9㎏ of pork, and 15.5㎏ of chicken. Greenhouse gas emissions from one person in Korea consuming meat for a year were estimated at about 1,115㎏. This is comparable to the emissions from taking about 21 one-way flights on the Gimpo·Jeju route.

Climate Solutions explained that it applied a life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology in this report. The analysis scope was set to ‘cradle-to-retail’ (Cradle-to-Retail), covering not only livestock rearing but also slaughter, processing, and distribution. It encompasses the entire process until 1㎏ of meat that consumers purchase at supermarkets or butcher shops reaches the store.

However, Climate Solutions added that the results may have been calculated on the low side and should be viewed as a ‘conservative minimum estimate’. The figures were derived not from direct on-site measurements of every process but from prior domestic and international studies, public statistics, activity data, and emission factors, with some items using overseas literature and proxy coefficients.

Shim Hyeon-jeong, a researcher at Climate Solutions and author of the report, said, “Statistics on livestock greenhouse gases in Korea center on direct on-farm emissions, leaving emissions data for slaughter, processing, and distribution in a blind spot” and added, “The government needs to establish a national life cycle inventory database for livestock products that standardizes data by stage of livestock production”.