One litre of milk can generate one kg of CO2

In a new research, scientists have determined that each litre of milk produced in New Zealand can generate nearly 1kg of greenhouse gases - about 85 percent of it on-farm.

According to a report in NZPA (New Zealand Press Association), each litre of milk produced causes the emission of greenhouse gases equivalent to 940g of carbon dioxide, meaning New Zealand's leading diary Fonterra's 15 billion litres of milk would produce nearly 15 million tonnes of carbon.

On the farm, 59 percent of those emissions are methane, 17 percent are carbon dioxide, and 24 percent are nitrous oxide.

Processing and manufacturing accounts for 10 percent of total emissions, and distribution accounts for 5 percent of total emissions.

Specific products that are concentrated, such as the iron-binding protein called lactoferrin which sells for 500,000 dollars a tonne, can require up to 14,000kg of milk to make a single kilo of lactoferrin and will have a huge carbon footprint.