Dark chocolate vs Farmed fish: carbon footprint

Dark chocolate46.65kg CO₂e / kg
vs
Farmed fish13.63kg CO₂e / kg

Dark chocolate or Farmed fish? Here's what each one costs the climate, measured per kilo over its whole life.

Dark chocolate runs about 46.65 kg CO₂e a kilo. Farmed fish runs 13.63.

Dark chocolate is the heavier choice, about 3.4× Farmed fish.

Swap Dark chocolate for Farmed fish and you cut about 33.02 kg a kilo, near 71% off.

Per kilo, that gap is a 193 km drive in a diesel car.

Dark chocolate: Cocoa is tied to deforestation, so a chocolate bar hides a surprisingly heavy footprint.

Farmed fish: Farmed fish and shrimp pay for feed, energy to run the ponds, and sometimes cleared mangroves.

Per-kilo numbers skip portion size and how the food was farmed, so take them as the shape of things, not the last word.

Play today's Carbonle →

More match-ups

Figures from OWID / Poore & Nemecek 2018, licensed CC-BY 4.0.
How we get these numbers: Methodology.