Food, beverage & tobacco in United Kingdom: emitters, CO2 & carbon value

197 tracked facilities, ≈5,540,798 t CO2/yr combined — here are the largest, what that CO2 is worth at current prices, and the sector's reduction pathway. Full sector pathway: decarbonizing food, beverage & tobacco.

The numbers

Food, beverage & tobacco in United Kingdom at a glance

Metric	Value	Note
Facilities tracked	197	with CO2 estimates
Total est. CO2	5,540,798 t/yr	Climate TRACE 2023
Average per facility	28,126 t/yr
Indicative carbon value	€429M/yr	at €77.4/t EUA

Carbon pricing here: Carbon Price Support adds £18/t for power generators on top of UK ETS. Current benchmark: £55.0/t (mid-2025 level). Full country page: carbon price in United Kingdom.

Largest emitters

Top 10 food, beverage & tobacco CO2 emitters in United Kingdom

#	Facility	Owner	t CO2/yr (est. 2023)	Indicative value
1	Wissington Sugar Factory	—	336,027	€26.0M
2	Bury St Edmunds Sugar Factory	—	285,546	€22.1M
3	Lacpatrick Dairies (Ni) Ltd	—	189,279	€14.7M
4	Girvan Dist, Grangestone Ind Est, Girvan	—	169,335	€13.1M
5	Trafford Park Wheat Milling Plant	—	146,279	€11.3M
6	Tate & Lyle Uk Limited, The Refinery, Greenwich	—	131,279	€10.2M
7	Cantley Sugar Factory	—	121,279	€9.4M
8	Cameronbridge Dist, Windygates, Leven	—	111,279	€8.6M
9	Tate And Lyle Plc, Tate & Lyle	—	111,279	€8.6M
10	Newark Sugar Factory	—	110,117	€8.5M

Climate TRACE satellite estimates via IndustryAtlas — modelled, not verified; some entries aggregate clusters. Corrections welcome.

⬇ This table (CSV)🖨 PDF for management

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Same industry, other countries

Food, beverage & tobacco in United States

74,470,484 t CO2/yr

Food, beverage & tobacco in France

10,343,205 t CO2/yr

Food, beverage & tobacco in Spain

8,147,820 t CO2/yr

Food, beverage & tobacco in Germany

8,140,168 t CO2/yr

Food, beverage & tobacco in Portugal

7,372,694 t CO2/yr

Other industries in United Kingdom

Oil & gas production in United Kingdom

14,818,050 t CO2/yr

Oil refining in United Kingdom

11,747,153 t CO2/yr

Iron & steel in United Kingdom

5,617,014 t CO2/yr

Cement in United Kingdom

3,661,096 t CO2/yr

Textiles, leather & apparel in United Kingdom

624,648 t CO2/yr

FAQ

Questions

How many food, beverage & tobacco facilities does United Kingdom have with tracked emissions?

197 facilities carry satellite-based CO2 estimates in our dataset (Climate TRACE 2023), totalling ≈5,540,798 t CO2/yr.

What is the largest food, beverage & tobacco emitter in United Kingdom?

Wissington Sugar Factory — ≈336,027 t CO2/yr (est. 2023). Estimates are modelled, not verified declarations.

What would this CO2 cost at the EU price?

≈€429M per year at €77.4/t — indicative full-price value; actual cost depends on free allocation and the local instrument.

How this page is built: heat-loss figures follow ASTM C680 / ISO 12241 (the method behind our public calculators); facility emissions from Climate TRACE & EU ETS verified data across 30,000+ industrial sites; the 2026–2034 schedule is Regulation (EU) 2023/956, not a forecast. Published by Inzonex — manufacturer of modular removable insulation (UK Patent GB2508992.1). Spotted an error? Tell us — we correct on evidence.