How Many CO2 Emissions Does the Meat Industry Produce? (Hint: Way More Than You Think)

What we eat impacts our planet – but how destructive is the meat industry?

The effects of the climate crisis are becoming more obvious and more severe. As a result, researchers are eager to dissect the climate breakdown, not only to better understand it, but to find ways to intervene. 

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a leading driver of the issue. In fact, CO2 makes up the largest portion of anthropogenic (human caused) greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). IPCC is the world’s leading authority on climate science. 

For decades, it’s been widely accepted that transportation is a huge part of the carbon problem, and it is. But another field’s carbon footprint is also problematic – the meat industry. But how many CO2 emissions does animal agriculture actually produce? And is it enough that we must curb our eating habits?

What is carbon dioxide?

Carbon dioxide is an acidic colorless gas that occurs naturally in the Earth’s atmosphere. Plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, making it integral to life on Earth.

CO2 is harmless in small amounts, but human activity causes levels of the gas to surge. Writing for Forbes, chemical engineer Robert Rapier highlighted that global carbon dioxide emissions have tripled in the last 55 years, sitting at 32.3 billion metric tons last year.

Why is carbon dioxide harmful?

CO2 is a greenhouse gas, meaning it creates a cover that traps heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. When concentrations are too high, the planet’s carbon cycle can’t process it efficiently enough. This causes global temperatures to increase, a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect. 

Global climate change has led to loss of sea ice, rising sea levels, and more frequent and severe heat waves and droughts, according to NASA. Climate breakdown is also linked to stronger hurricanes, flash flooding, increased wildfires, erosion in coastal areas, ocean acidification, and biodiversity loss, the government agency highlights. 

“The effects of human-caused global warming are happening now, are irreversible on the timescale of people alive today, and will worsen in the decades to come,” NASA sums up.

How much carbon dioxide does meat produce?

Awareness of the transportation and fossil fuel industries’ impact on the environment has been growing for decades. But a sector that often slips under the radar is animal agriculture. 

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), global livestock production makes up 14.5 percent of all anthropogenic (human caused) emissions – 7.1 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent per year.

There is some debate surrounding the widely accepted FAO figure of 14.5 percent. Research published this year claims that this figure is ‘now out of date’. The article argues that the minimum estimate for animal agriculture’s emissions should be updated to 16.5 percent. 

“Some will contest the importance of a few percentage points. Yet even the difference between 14.5 and 16.5 percent is the difference between animal agriculture being responsible for close to one in seven, or one in six of all emissions,” the article reads.

Which foods have the lowest carbon footprint?

In 2019, researchers published the most comprehensive analysis to date of farming’s environmental impact. Looking at emissions per 100 grams of protein, beef emits just under 50kg of CO2 equivalents, according to the analysis. Lamb and mutton emit just under 20kg, while farmed prawns and pig meat emit 18.19kg and 7.61kg respectively. 

For context, grains emit 2.71kg of CO2 equivalents per 100g of protein and soybeans emit 1.98kg.  And peas – a common ingredient in plant-based meat (like Beyond Burgers) – emit just 0.44kg. 

Comparing emissions per kilogram of food (rather than per 100g of protein), plant-based sources are still significantly lower than animal-based ones. 

Producing a kilogram of beef emits 60kg of CO2 equivalents, the researchers concluded, while pea production emits just 1kg per kilogram of food. 

Lamb, poultry, and pork generate 20kg, 6kg, and 7kg of CO2 equivalents respectively. Contrastingly, root vegetables and apples both produce 0.4kg. Rice (4kg), tomatoes (1.4kg), nuts (0.3kg) and bananas (0.7kg), to name a few, also carry a smaller carbon footprint.

“A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use,” Joseph Poore, who led the study, said in a statement. He added that the impact of ditching animal products is ‘far bigger’ than flying less or opting for an electric car. 

How Many CO2 Emissions Does the Meat Industry Produce? (Hint: Way More Than You Think) – Plant Based News

Regards Mark

There is a justice demo in central London on 8/9/21 for Geronimo and against the badger cull.  Ref:

England: 8/9/21 – Badger Cull and ‘Geronimo’ Justice Demo at Defra HQ, London. Lets Get The Cull Stopped. – World Animals Voice

Little changes – In this video, Filmed on Wednesday 27th March 2013, Dr Brian May, ex ‘Queen’ guitarist and Doctor of Astrophysics, talks at Oxford University about the UK government badger cull and why it must be abandoned.  All these years later, still nothing changes. 

Check out all our ((WAV) badger posts at:

Search Results for “badger” – World Animals Voice

Brian May talks about the UK government badger cull and why it must be abandoned.

Brian May begins by saying that his talk was supposed to be a debate on the culling of Badgers in the UK. The opposition, lead by Owen Paterson (A Conservative MP who is Secretary of State for Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs), didn’t show up highlighting that his argument for the killing of Badgers does not hold any ground.

Bovine TB is a disease typically endemic to cows and can spread to any lactating mammal. The strain of the virus that has been passed on to Badgers cannot easily infect humans, it’s typically a respiratory disease however in it’s advanced form it can cause legions and is a terrible way for the animal to die. The witch-hunt against badgers started when a single badger was found in 1971 to be ill and dying and from that people blamed all the badgers for the spread of TB among cattle.

This is where the stigma placed on Badgers was founded; however the badger that was found was never tested for the disease so there is no evidence for all this blame. The government plans to kills thousands of badgers this summer in West Gloucestershire, Somerset and part of Dorset. There is a skin test on cows to show TB and in one case the skin test has failed 5 times over and the disease was only discovered in the cow at the abattoir.

Over 40% of Bovine TB cases are discovered in the abattoir. It is argued that the badger cull will have an adverse affect on the spread of TB.

The issue of vaccinating cows has not been addressed. A scientific study was undertaken on badgers that were seemingly killed by the roadside and 80% of them were discovered to have died somewhere else and conveniently placed there. Brian concludes that the vaccination of cattle is the only way to go.

He uses the ban on fox hunting as an example of how the media subliminally sways public opinion in their favour but suddenly coming out with stories of foxes biting and attacking people.

Filmed on Wednesday 27th March 2013 ABOUT BRIAN MAY: Brian May, musician and astrophysicist, is most widely known as the guitarist, songwriter and occasional singer of the rock band Queen. He was appointed a CBE in 2005 for services to the music industry and for his charity work. He earned a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College in 2007 and is currently serving as the 4th Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University. Planet Rock voted May the 7th greatest guitarist of all time, and he was ranked at No. 26 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. In 2012, May was ranked the 2nd greatest guitarist of all time by a Guitar World magazine readers poll.

ABOUT THE OXFORD UNION SOCIETY: The Union is the world’s most prestigious debating society, with an unparalleled reputation for bringing international guests and speakers to Oxford. It has been established for 189 years, aiming to promote debate and discussion not just in Oxford University, but across the globe.

Regards Mark

Dr Bri plays guitar with Robert Plant (ex Led Zeppelin) at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert – London.

UN criticised over statement on overuse of antibiotics in farming

Statement calling for significant cut in antimicrobial drug usage is ‘real missed opportunity’, say critics

Animal health experts and UN leaders have called for a significant reduction in antimicrobial drug usage in food animals, which is already causing a “silent pandemic”.

But critics say the statement is “a real missed opportunity”, pointing to its failure to set reduction targets or even call for a ban on the use of antibiotics for animal growth promotion.

Drugs which are critical for humans are being used in enormous quantities in animal production. As a result there is a far higher probability of drug-resistant bacteria and viruses emerging. This could lead to some of the world’s most important drugs becoming ineffective against common infectious diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis and gonorrhoea, with death rates rising.

The joint statement issued this week by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the UN’s global leaders group on antimicrobial resistance called for “significant and urgent reduction in the amounts of antimicrobial drugs, including antibiotics, used in food systems” and said this was “critical to combating rising levels of drug resistance”.

The overuse of antimicrobials has led to what G7 leaders called a “silent pandemic” in June. Drug-resistant diseases already cause at least 700,000 human deaths globally every year, according to the statement. “The world is rapidly heading towards a tipping point where the antimicrobials relied on to treat infections in humans, animals and plants will no longer be effective.”

Antimicrobial drugs, which include antibiotics, antifungals and antiparasitics, are used in food production all over the world, the statement said, and are “administered to animals not only for veterinary purposes (to treat and prevent disease), but also to promote growth in healthy animals”.

But despite the statement’s strong wording, experts said it had few teeth.

“Basically what [this call] lacks is a clear target for reduction,” said Thomas Van Boeckel, an antimicrobial resistance, disease, and livestock production systems scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

Although commendable, the statement does not say “quantitatively what they mean by significant”, Van Boeckel said. That meant, “they make no commitment, basically”, he added.

He said the targets must be country specific. “It would be unfair, for example, to impose stringent targets on developing countries who need livestock for their livelihoods.”

But, he said, high-income countries and China could aim for less than 50mg of active antibiotic ingredient per kilogram of meat raised. Many EU countries are using more than that, he said, referencing a 2017 paper he co-authored.

Van Boeckel’s paper found that implementing a global cap of 50mg of antimicrobials, per kilogram of animal product, per year could reduce total consumption by 64%.

The paper said the 50mg cap corresponded to the average global use of antimicrobials in 2017. It further recommended user fees and caps on veterinary use to control antimicrobials.

“This statement is far too cautious and a real missed opportunity,” said Cóilín Nunan, a scientific adviser at the Alliance to Save our Antibiotics. “There is no target [and] not even a call for an immediate end to the use of antibiotics for [livestock] growth promotion.”

Most disappointing, he said, is how little the statement says about intensive farming. “Intensive farming, the root cause of so much animal disease and antibiotic use, is once again let off the hook. Where is the global leadership that is needed if we are ever to move to more sustainable farming practices and drastically cut farm antibiotic use?”

Henk Hobbelink, an agronomist and co-founder of the small-farmer focused NGO Grain, agreed and said the use of antimicrobial growth promoters in factory farming needed “to be banned, immediately and everywhere”.

Another solution that has been suggested is to develop animal-only antibiotics. Timothy Walsh, who is working with a team to develop animal only replacements at the Ineos Oxford Institute (IOI) for antimicrobial research, said it was “bonkers to use the same drugs in animal feeds as you would to treat neonatal sepsis”.

The IOI’s vision, he said, is to “move to a place where in supermarkets across the UK and beyond food will be labelled NHA [meaning] no human antibiotics” but it “will take, time, effort, money, goodwill and global policy”.

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UN criticised over statement on overuse of antibiotics in farming | Environment | The Guardian

The Guardian – London.

Regards Mark