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Food Miles Calculator (kg CO₂e Transport Emissions)

Calculate food miles and transport-only emissions from shipment mass, distance, and an entered emissions factor — tonne-kilometres and kg CO₂e per tonne-km.

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kg
km
kg CO₂e/t-km

A transparent worksheet using measured values and explicit user-entered scenario factors.

Results update as you type.

Arithmetic scenario only. Verify measurements, product data, and source applicability for your use.

Worked example

shipmentMass: 500 · distance: 1000 · transportFactor: 0.062 · factorSource: recorded road-freight factor, US, 2023 · provenance: version 1.0, road, US, 2023, well-to-wheel · uncertainty: +/-20% sensitivity range

Result: 31.0 kg CO₂e

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Food Miles Calculator

This food miles calculator estimates the emissions from shipping food over one transport leg when you know the shipment mass, route distance, and an emissions factor appropriate to that leg. It reports transport work in tonne-kilometres and a transport-only emissions scenario in kg CO₂e.

Set up a traceable transport scenario

Enter shipment mass in kilograms, distance in kilometres, and a nonnegative factor in kg CO₂e per tonne-kilometre. The factor is not supplied: record its transport mode, geography, year, system boundary, and source. Also record the factor version and an uncertainty or sensitivity range. These details keep two runs comparable and make a later update auditable.

The supported method is:

tonne-kilometres = shipment mass (kg) / 1,000 × distance (km)

transport emissions (kg CO₂e) = tonne-kilometres × factor (kg CO₂e/t-km)

The result uses the entered values without intermediate rounding, then displays both outputs to one decimal place. Mass, distance, and factor must be finite and nonnegative; the source, provenance, and uncertainty fields are required.

Example: shipment food miles

For a 500 kg shipment travelling 1,000 km, mass is 500 / 1,000 = 0.5 t. Transport work is 0.5 × 1,000 = 500 t-km. With an entered factor of 0.062 kg CO₂e/t-km, emissions are 500 × 0.062 = 31 kg CO₂e, displayed as 31.0 kg CO₂e alongside 500.0 t-km.

Audit a route leg by leg

For a journey involving more than one mode, make one run per leg rather than assigning one factor to the entire distance. In a simple audit table, record leg, shipped mass, distance, factor, factor source/version, and result. Add leg results only when their CO₂e definitions and boundaries are compatible. This preserves which change came from distance, load, or factor instead of hiding all three in one total.

To test factor uncertainty, keep mass and distance fixed and rerun the documented lower and upper factor values. The resulting span is a sensitivity range, not a confidence interval.

Boundary and next step

This estimate excludes food production, packaging, refrigeration or storage energy, retail, cooking, waste, and any transport leg you omit. It is not a product footprint, inventory, certification, or offset quantity. For lifecycle emissions of the food itself, use the Meat Footprint Calculator; for the packaging leg this estimate excludes, the Plastic Footprint Calculator annualizes item mass. Other transport modes are covered by the Flight Emissions Calculator. Distance should represent the route covered by the selected mode, while the factor must use the same tonne-kilometre basis.

Next, verify the factor edition and boundary against its original dataset, then save each leg’s inputs and result so the scenario can be reproduced when distances or factors change.

Sources

Compare Food Miles Calculator (kg CO₂e Transport Emissions) with related tools

All comparisons →
Food Miles vs Flight Emissions CalculatorCompare the two transport-emissions scenario calculators: freight tonne-kilometres from shipment mass, distance, and a factor versus passenger flight CO₂ from distance, cabin class, and an optional radiative-forcing multiplier.Food Miles vs Plastic FootprintChoose between transport-only emissions from shipping food and an annualized mass scenario for the plastic in everyday items.Meat Footprint vs Food MilesCompare the two food-climate estimates: lifecycle emissions of the meat itself (servings × kg CO₂e/kg factor) versus transport-only emissions of shipping food (tonne-kilometres × kg CO₂e/t-km factor).

Frequently asked questions

How are transport emissions calculated?
Tonne-kilometres equals shipment mass in kilograms divided by 1,000 times distance in kilometres, and transport emissions in kg CO2e equal tonne-kilometres times the entered factor in kg CO2e per tonne-kilometre. The result uses the entered values without intermediate rounding.
Where does the emissions factor come from?
The factor is not supplied by the page. You record its transport mode, geography, year, system boundary, and source, plus the factor version and an uncertainty or sensitivity range, so two runs stay comparable and auditable.
What does the estimate include?
It covers one transport leg only. It excludes food production, packaging, refrigeration or storage energy, retail, cooking, waste, and any transport leg you omit, and it is not a product footprint, inventory, certification, or offset quantity.

Sources

  • food-miles-fao-livestock

    primary · Aug 10, 2026

    Supports: FAO livestock and environment lifecycle context; boundary awareness for the page's transport-only estimate.

  • food-miles-uk-ghg-conversion-factors

    secondary · Aug 10, 2026

    Supports: UK government GHG conversion-factor methodology, including freight factors expressed per tonne-kilometre; supports the page's requirement that the entered factor share the same tonne-kilometre basis, mode, geography, and year.

  • food-miles-epa-ghg-overview

    secondary · Aug 10, 2026

    Supports: CO2-equivalent (CO2e) greenhouse-gas context for the kg CO2e readout; no entered coefficient comes from this source.

Related calculators

CO2 Breathing Emission CalculatorConvert an entered breathing scenario into CO₂ gas volume and mass for a selected duration.Plastic Footprint CalculatorConvert an entered item frequency and measured mass into an annual mass scenario.Meat Footprint CalculatorEstimate the carbon footprint of meat servings from serving mass and an entered kg CO₂e-per-kg lifecycle factor.Composting Impact CalculatorMultiply food-waste mass by user-selected avoided-emissions and compost-yield factors.Solar Panel Carbon Offset CalculatorEstimate solar panel carbon offset from rated system size, sun hours, regional grid intensity, and the calculator's preserved performance and manufacturing assumptions.Flight Emissions CalculatorEstimate a base flight CO₂ scenario from passenger distance, cabin class, and user-entered emission factors, with an optional non-CO₂ radiative-forcing multiplier.

Food Miles Calculator (kg CO₂e Transport Emissions) updated at

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