Despite increased awareness that animal agriculture is a significant source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and that by eating meat we are helping destroy the planet, global demand for meat continues to rise. Meat consumption increased from 758 million tonnes in 1990 to more than 1,247 million tonnes in 2017, and now over 70 billion farm animals are slaughtered for meat each year. The climate crisis demands we change the economics and environmental impact of the industry but how do we shift our broken food system to one that delivers a healthier diet and a lower carbon footprint?
A coalition of global scientists is calling for “peak meat” by 2030 as the best way to transform the agriculture sector to help fight the climate crisis and meet the Paris climate goals. The primary recommendation is that governments in richer nations adopt a timeframe for peak livestock by which livestock production would stop increasing and be reduced.
The 50 prominent scientists outlined their case for change in The Lancet Planetary Health journal along with a four-part strategy to reduce and reverse the contribution of animal agriculture to the climate crisis. According to the UN FAO, animal agriculture is the second largest emitter of global GHGs, producing at least 14.5% of all GHGs such as CO2, methane and nitrous oxide. This is a larger emissions footprint than the entire transportation sector. You can find the recommendations and the signatories at https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(19)30245-1/fulltext
“If the livestock sector were to continue as business as usual, this sector alone would account for 49% of the emissions budget for 1.5°C by 2030, requiring other sectors to reduce emissions beyond a realistic or planned level,” the report says. It is the latest urgent call for action from scientists, and puts further emphasis on the important role that animal agriculture plays in the onset of the climate crisis and offers clear strategies to help solve it.
Secondly, the scientists call for identifying the largest emission sources or land occupiers within the livestock sector and setting “appropriate reduction targets for production.” “We propose that in creating Paris-compliant agriculture sectors, high-income and middle-income countries do not outsource their livestock production to other countries, and instead reduce demand for livestock products.”
Thirdly, they recommend a reconfiguration of the agriculture sector by applying a “best available food strategy to diversify production by replacing livestock with foods that simultaneously minimize environmental burdens and maximize health benefits.” These foods include beans, peas, lentils, grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.
Fourthly, the strategy calls for converting grazing land freed up by reduced demand for meat to be converted to natural vegetation and forests to maximize its potential as a carbon sink.
While most climate proposals are focused on the reduction of fossil fuels, this chart shows why this latest call for “peak meat” is so compelling. There are two major flaws in how we are using the planet’s land resources. First, too much land is devoted to raising farm animals rather than food that can be consumed directly by people. And secondly, not enough land is devoted to forests that have the largest potential for carbon sequestration.
Apart from the environmental and climate impact of producing and consuming animals, it’s highly inefficient for feeding the world. As the chart shows, 77% of agricultural land is used for livestock including grazing pastures and crop land for animal feed. Yet because of inefficient protein conversion ratios, eating animals produces only 18% of calories and 37% of protein in global diets while plant-based foods use just 23% of the land to produce 83% of the global calorie supply.
Forests play a key role in the equation to slow down global heating by removing significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. The scientists say that restoring natural vegetation and forests “is currently the best option at scale to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.” But the livestock sector, “having largely displaced natural carbon sinks, continues to occupy much of the land that must be restored.” So, a return to natural vegetation, reforestation and afforestation (planting trees where none existed before) is a key part of the formula to reduce the environmental impact of our food system.
The scientists chose the target of 2030 for “peak meat” to allow time for people to change what they eat and for farmers, producers and food companies to transition the industry to a new model and diversify the foods they produce.