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Beef generally has a far larger environmental footprint than plant-based protein. In the global dataset presented by Our World in Data, beef produces about 25 kilograms of carbon-dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per 100 grams of protein, compared with roughly 1.6 kg for tofu, 0.65 kg for beans and 0.4 kg for peas. Beef also uses substantially more land. A product-level U.S. life-cycle assessment (LCA) of a quarter-pound plant-based patty found lower impacts than an average quarter-pound beef patty across the four indicators it measured, but those percentages apply to that product, benchmark and study boundary—not to every plant-based food.
The short answer
If your decision is between a beef serving and a nutritionally comparable serving of beans, peas, tofu or a plant-based burger, choosing the plant option will usually reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and land demand. The size of the benefit depends on the food, recipe, farming system, location and life-cycle stages counted.
For a broad food-system comparison, the most useful denominator is protein, not the weight of food. For a burger swap, compare similar patty weights and servings. Mixing those functional units can make a low-impact food appear worse simply because it contains more water, or make a product comparison look universal when it is not.
What the global food data show
Our World in Data presents the Poore and Nemecek 2018 food-impact dataset as global median results. The underlying work screened 1,530 candidate studies, retained 570 suitable studies, and combined them with additional data from 139 authors. It covers 38,700 commercially viable farms in 119 countries and 40 food products.
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The figures below are approximate chart values for emissions per 100 grams of protein. They describe medians across the dataset, not a particular farm, restaurant portion or package label.
| Food | Approximate emissions per 100 g protein | What the number represents |
|---|---|---|
| Beef | 25 kg CO2e | Global median across beef production systems |
| Tofu | 1.6 kg CO2e | Global median for tofu |
| Beans | 0.65 kg CO2e | Global median for beans |
| Peas | 0.4 kg CO2e | Global median for peas |
On this basis, the beef median is about 16 times the tofu value, 38 times the bean value and 63 times the pea value. Those ratios are calculated from rounded chart values, so they should be read as scale indicators rather than precise rankings for every producer.
What is included in the food-system footprint
The dataset follows food through land-use change, farm emissions, agricultural inputs, processing, transport, packaging and retail. Greenhouse gases are expressed as CO2e using 100-year global-warming potentials, a convention that converts methane and nitrous oxide into a common climate metric according to their warming effect over that period.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesBecause the system extends through retail, the numbers are not limited to emissions from an animal or a crop in the field. They include the upstream and downstream activities required to make the food available for sale.
Why protein-normalized comparisons matter
A kilogram of mushrooms, cooked beans and beef does not contain the same amount of protein. Comparing one kilogram of each can therefore answer a different question from “How much impact is associated with obtaining a useful amount of protein?” Our World in Data provides views per kilogram of food, per 100 grams of protein and per 1,000 kilocalories.
Use the protein view when evaluating protein sources. Use a serving or patty comparison when planning a meal replacement. Use the calorie view when the dietary question is energy rather than protein. The denominator should match the decision you are making.
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Beef versus a plant-based burger patty
A product-level LCA illustrates a direct meal substitution but has a narrower scope than the global food dataset. The Beyond Burger 4.0 assessment compares one quarter-pound patty made with U.S. production data from 2024 with an average U.S. quarter-pound beef patty. The beef benchmark is based on a 2023 beef LCA by Putman, Rotz and Thoma.
| Indicator | Reported result for the assessed plant-based patty versus beef | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| Global-warming impact | 88% lower | Study-specific climate result for the two quarter-pound patties |
| Fossil-resource scarcity | 28% lower | Measured in kilograms of oil equivalent; this is not total energy use |
| Land use | 97% lower | Study’s characterized land-use indicator |
| Water consumption | 92% lower | Absolute consumption reported by the assessment, not a universal scarcity-weighted impact |
These percentages are findings of that LCA, not independent testing by this publication and not a universal claim about every plant-based patty. The report evaluates four selected indicators and says its comparison cannot establish impacts in categories it did not assess. It also reports cradle-to-distribution results, whereas the global food dataset follows food through retail. Different boundaries mean the two sets of numbers should not be combined into one headline percentage.
Why beef is usually climate-intensive
Methane from ruminant digestion
Cattle are ruminants. Microbes in their digestive systems produce methane, which animals release mainly through belching. Methane is shorter-lived in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide but has a much stronger warming effect during the 100-year accounting period used for CO2e calculations.
Feed, manure and fertilizer
Growing feed requires land, fertilizer, fuel and processing. Manure management can emit methane and nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide also comes from nitrogen fertilizer and is a powerful greenhouse gas. These emissions add to those associated with the animal itself.
Land-use change and opportunity cost
Cattle require grazing land and, in many systems, cropland for feed. Converting forests, grasslands or other ecosystems to pasture or feed production can release stored carbon and remove future carbon uptake. The global dataset counts land-use change where it is part of the production footprint.
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Land use is a major point of separation
Beef generally needs more land per unit of protein than legumes, soy-based foods or other plant proteins because land is used for pasture, feed crops and the associated supply chain. Lower land demand can reduce pressure to convert ecosystems and can leave more land available for habitat, restoration or other crops.
Land metrics are not interchangeable. An assessment may report area occupied, land occupation over time or a characterized land-use impact. The 97% figure in the Beyond LCA is the study’s land-use indicator for its two patties; it should not be presented as a universal percentage for all meat alternatives.
Water and resource metrics need careful reading
“Water use” can mean several things. Absolute water consumption counts water removed from a system and not returned, while scarcity-weighted methods also account for how stressful withdrawals are in a particular watershed. A liter consumed in a water-abundant region does not have the same local implication as a liter consumed in a drought-prone basin.
The Beyond Burger 4.0 assessment reports liters of water consumption and found 92% lower consumption for its assessed patty than the beef benchmark. It does not report a universal scarcity-weighted water impact. Its 28% reduction in fossil-resource scarcity is expressed in kilograms of oil equivalent, which should not be relabeled as a percentage reduction in total energy demand.
Whole plant foods and formulated alternatives are different categories
Beans, peas and tofu are whole or minimally processed foods with their own farming, processing, packaging and cooking requirements. A plant-based burger is a formulated product that may contain protein concentrates, oils, binders, flavors, colorants and other ingredients. Refrigeration, factory processing and packaging can add impacts.
The OECD’s 2022 review of meat-protein alternatives finds lower greenhouse-gas intensity for plant-based foods and plant-based meat alternatives than for beef in the evidence it examined. It also notes that ingredient production makes a considerable contribution to plant-burger emissions. A low-impact ingredient can therefore be offset partly by an energy-intensive process, while a highly processed recipe may perform differently from beans or tofu.
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Do not use the footprint of one patty to represent every meat alternative, and do not assume every plant food has the same profile. Compare the actual product, recipe and serving when that precision matters.
How geography and farming systems change the result
Global medians hide substantial variation. Climate, yields, feed efficiency, fertilizer use, energy sources, irrigation and land-use history all affect a producer’s footprint. The global data show that these variations do not usually reverse the broad ordering: nearly all beef and lamb producers have higher carbon footprints than plant-based alternatives. They do, however, make a universal number for “beef” or “plant protein” misleading.
Beef from beef herds versus dairy herds
Beef can come from a dedicated beef herd or from animals associated with dairy production. In a dairy system, impacts are allocated among milk and meat co-products. That allocation can give dairy-origin beef a lower attributed footprint than beef from a dedicated beef herd, even though both are sold as beef. The allocation method and system boundary should be reported when comparing studies.
Local does not automatically mean low-impact
Shorter transport routes can matter, but production is often the dominant source of food emissions. Our World in Data’s synthesis estimates that transport contributes about 5% of food greenhouse-gas emissions overall. A local food produced with high-emission inputs can therefore have a larger footprint than a transported food produced efficiently. “Local” describes distance, not the complete life-cycle impact.
How to make a practical comparison
- Define the decision. Choose whether you are comparing protein, calories, a complete meal or two burger patties.
- Match the functional unit. Use per 100 grams of protein for nutrition comparisons, or equal serving weights for a meal substitution.
- Check the geography and date. A U.S. 2024 product assessment should not be treated as a global 2026 average.
- Check the system boundary. Note whether the result stops at the farm, factory or distribution center, or continues through retail.
- Read the metric definition. Distinguish CO2e, land occupation, water consumption, scarcity-weighted water impact and fossil-resource scarcity.
- Separate product evidence from category evidence. Use global food data for broad patterns and a product LCA for the specific item it studied.
- Look for allocation rules. Dairy co-products, crop residues and shared processing can change how impacts are assigned.
- Keep uncertainty visible. Rounded medians and modeled results support direction and scale, not a guaranteed footprint for your next meal.
A lower-impact eating pattern in practice
For an ordinary meal, replacing a beef-centered serving with beans, peas or tofu is the clearest high-confidence way to reduce climate and land impacts while retaining a substantial protein source. A plant-based burger can be a useful like-for-like substitution when taste, convenience or cooking behavior matters, but its footprint depends on the formulation and factory supply chain.
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What the evidence can—and cannot—say
- Supported: Beef usually has much higher greenhouse-gas emissions and land demand per unit of protein than beans, peas, tofu and other plant alternatives.
- Supported: The assessed quarter-pound plant-based patty had lower global-warming impact, fossil-resource scarcity, land use and water consumption than the assessed U.S. beef patty.
- Not established by these figures: A single footprint for every plant-based burger, every beef farm or every region.
- Not established by the four-indicator LCA: Impacts in environmental categories that the product assessment did not evaluate.
- Important qualification: Water, land and resource results depend on definitions, allocation choices and system boundaries.
Frequently asked questions
Is plant-based meat always better for the environment than beef?
The reviewed evidence supports lower greenhouse-gas intensity for plant-based meat alternatives than beef, but “always” is too broad. Results depend on ingredients, processing, energy, packaging, geography and the impact category being measured.
Are beans and tofu better than a plant-based burger?
They are different products, so a universal ranking requires comparable data for the exact foods and serving sizes. The global dataset reports very low protein-normalized emissions for beans and tofu; a formulated burger has additional processing and ingredient steps.
Why compare protein instead of food weight?
Foods contain different amounts of protein per kilogram. Protein-normalized results answer the question of environmental impact per amount of protein, while equal-weight results answer the question of impact per package or serving mass.
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Does buying local beef solve the climate problem?
Not necessarily. Transport is about 5% of food emissions in the cited synthesis, while production commonly contributes much more. Locality alone cannot establish a low footprint.
Can I apply the 88% figure to any plant-based patty?
No. The 88% reduction is specific to the Beyond Burger 4.0 quarter-pound patty, its U.S. 2024 production data, its average U.S. beef benchmark and the LCA’s boundary and methods.
The Bottom Line
For most comparisons, replacing beef with beans, peas, tofu or a well-documented plant-based alternative is the lower-impact choice for climate and land use. Treat every percentage as study-specific, match the functional unit, and check what the water, land and resource metrics actually measure.
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