Energy-intensive indoor cultivation drives the cannabis industry’s expanding carbon footprint
Two-thirds of the 24,000 t/year of legal and illicit US cannabis cultivation takes place indoors. Industry-wide life cycle emissions are 44 Mt CO2e/year, equaling those of 6 M homes or 10 M cars, ∼90% of which is associated with factory-farmed products. Energy use is four times that of beverage and tobacco or pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing. Maximal reductions can be achieved by a policy-driven shift toward more outdoor cultivation, but this requires addressing market distortions and harmonizing drug and environmental policy.
