Animal-based foods account for 57% of agricultural greenhouse gases, versus 29% for food from plants
The impact of food on greenhouse-gas emissions can slip under the radar. In a survey in Britain last year, the share of respondents saying that “producing plants and meat on farms” was a “significant contributor” to climate change was the lowest among ten listed activities. Yet two papers published this year ins than previously thought. Forgoing steaks may be one of the most efficient ways to reduce your carbon footprint.
Another recent paper, by Xiaoming Xu of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and eight co-authors, allocates this impact among 171 crops and 16 animal products. It finds that animal-based foods account for 57% of agriculturals, versus 29% for food from plants. Beef and cow’s milk alone made up 34%. Combined with the earlier study’s results, this implies that cattle produce 12% ofRelative to other food sources, beef is uniquely carbon-intensive.
The simplest way to cut beef output is for people to eat other animals instead, or become vegetarians. But convincing carnivores to give up their burgers is a tall order. Fortunately, lab-grown meats are moving from Petri dishes to high-end restaurants . Doing without beef from live cattle is hard to imagine, but the same was true of coal 100 years ago. Cultured meat could play an essential role in staving off a climate catastrophe.per unit of energy than hydropower.
Sources: “Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions”, by Crippa et al., 2021; “Global greenhouse gas emissions from animal-based foods are twice those of plant-based foods”, by Xu et al., 2021; Quantis; Heller et al., 2018; J. Poore, & T. Nemecek, 2018; The World Resources Institute; Pehl et al., 2017; IPCC AR5; Our World in Data
This article appeared in the Graphic detail section of the print edition under the headline "The beef with beef"
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