Overview
- The analysis covers 3,531 contiguous-U.S. cities and traces beef, pork and chicken supply chains to their feed, livestock and processing origins.
- Researchers estimate 329 million metric tons of CO2e per year from urban meat consumption, exceeding the U.K. and Italy’s totals and roughly matching U.S. domestic fossil-fuel combustion.
- Per-capita footprints vary widely by city because of where and how animals and feed are produced rather than transport distance or local consumption levels.
- Example mapping shows Los Angeles beef tied to processors in 10 counties, livestock from 469 counties and feed from 828 counties.
- Modeled actions—including shifting purchases away from beef, halving food waste and modest behavior changes—could cut emissions by up to about 51%.