The meat and dairy industries are on track to be the world’s biggest contributors to climate change. A new report from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and GRAIN has said that if these industries continue down their current path, the livestock sector could be responsible for 80% of the allowable greenhouse gas budget by 2050.
When taken together, the world’s top five meat and dairy corporations are already responsible for more emissions than ExxonMobil, Shell or BP! China, the US, the EU, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand are the major contributors – collectively responsible for over 60% of global meat and dairy emissions – about twice the rest of the world on a per capita basis.
Meat and dairy also contribute to a significant amount of land clearing – a paper published by Poore and Nemecek in the journal Science last year found that if everyone stopped eating meat and dairy products, global farmland use could be reduced by three quarters. The authors suggested that eating less meat is “the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth”.
Whilst we advocate for many environmental issues and actions, significantly reducing your meat intake is simply one of the best things you can do whether you ultimately choose to do it for animal rights, health or environmentalism 🍂
