The carbon hoofprint of cities is shaped by geography and production in the livestock supply chain

Meat consumed in cities is largely produced in rural regions. Supply chain opacity and complexity hinder understanding of (and the ability to address) the distributed impacts of urban meat consumption on rural communities and environments. Here we combine supply chain models with spatial carbon accounting to quantify and map the GHG emissions from beef, chicken and pork consumption—the carbon hoofprint—for all 3,531 cities in the contiguous USA. This carbon hoofprint totals 329 MtCO₂e, equivalent to emissions from US at-home fossil fuel combustion. Surprising differences in the carbon intensity of meat-producing regions explain variation in per capita hoofprints between cities (500–1,731 kgCO₂e). Demand-side measures such as reducing food waste and dietary shifts (for example, more chicken, less beef) could halve emissions. Our modelling highlights reduction strategies across the supply chain and provides a basis to address the transboundary impacts of cities.

Cover photo:  a, Per capita meat consumption (beef, chicken and pork) (kg per capita) (top) and hoofprint (kgCO₂e per capita) (bottom) for 3,531 US cities. b, Comparison of per capita meat consumption (left) and hoofprint (right) for California (top), the Northeast (middle) and Texas (bottom). Consumption values are before retail and consumer losses (for example, kilograms delivered to retail). Based on uncertainty analysis, there is a mean absolute percentage error of 26% from baseline across all cities