Many of us enjoy eating meat and shouldn’t feel that by doing so we are directly responsible for climate change. However it is important to be aware of the impact that meat production has on our planet – after all, knowledge is power and enables us to make informed choices on the produce we buy and how it has been produced.
We’ve put together what we consider to be important questions about meat production and how it impacts on our planet; using this information leads to increased awareness and helps us all to reduce our impact on the environment whilst still enjoying what we like to eat.
How Does Meat Production Impact Climate Change?
How does meat production cause greenhouse gas emissions?
Which is the most resource intensive meat?
Can we make beef production more sustainable?
Would not eating beef make a major difference?
What about other meats, such as chicken or pork?
How about animal products such as milk, eggs or cheese?
What about organic produce, does this have a lower carbon footprint?
How can I reduce my carbon footprint without cutting out meat?
How does meat production cause greenhouse gas emissions?
Through both land use and the production processes of growing and maintaining animals until they are slaughtered.
Which is the most resource intensive meat?
Beef. This is down to a few factors:
- Cows require higher amounts of feed to unit of meat produced than other animals, as they have lower reproduction and growth rates. The associated impact that producing this feed all contributes to climate change.
- They also require more land to live comfortably and grow well. This land then cannot be used for other food production or to be allowed to grow natively as forests or vegetation, which also impacts on the environment. In addition, extra land may need to be gained through deforestation.
- They emit 20x more greenhouse gas emissions per gram of edible protein than plant proteins.
Can we make beef production more sustainable?
Yes. There are several avenues being explored in beef production to reduce the impact on the environment, including:
- Raising specific cow breeds that are more efficient in converting feed into meat and milk.
- Rotational grazing, which boosts soil health and reduces emissions. This also reduces the need for more pastureland which takes pressure off our existing forests.
- Improving the quality of the feed, enabling better growth.
- Feed additives to reduce the amount of methane that cows produce through burping, such as red seaweed.
Would not eating beef make a major difference?
Not really. What would be a more feasible option would be to be aware of the farming practices used to produce the beef we buy and aim to buy only beef produced in the most sustainable ways.
Of course, reducing the amount of beef being consumed would also have an impact, as this would lead to less need for agricultural expansion and deforestation, as well as less need for cows to be bred for meat and their associated emissions.
What about other meats, such as chicken or pork?
Chicken and other poultry do have less of an impact than other livestock when it comes to meat production. This is largely because poultry do not produce methane, and also because their needs for food and water are less.
Pork comes somewhere in the middle – they need less food and water than cows, more than poultry. Pigs do produce methane; less than cows but more than birds.
What about seafood?
The primary cause of emissions when it comes to fishing and catching seafood is the fuel used in fishing boats. Seafood caught by other means, such as pole, net or spear fishing will have a lower carbon footprint.
Sadly, most fisheries are already at their maximum level for sustainability, and some are being over fished, so as a global community we are already near our level of being able to eat wild fish. Fish farms (“aquaculture”) are another source of seafood but do come hand in hand with increased methane emissions from aquaculture ponds.
How about animal products such as milk, eggs or cheese?
Many of us consume animal products such as milk, eggs or cheese in our daily lives, but these may actually come with a higher carbon footprint than you realise.
Milk
The production of milk goes hand in hand with keeping cows, which as above have their own impact on the planet due to methane expulsion, need for land, increased feed etc. Milk sold commercially then needs to be pasteurised, which comes with further emissions from running a dairy such as milk cooling, water heating etc. Any further chilled transport by vehicle will then add to the carbon footprint of each litre of milk being produced.
All things considered, one 250ml glass of cow’s milk is equivalent to 0.8kg CO2e (CO2e means the number of metric tons of CO2 emissions with the same global warming potential as one metric ton of another greenhouse gas).
Cheese
Cheese, like milk, traditionally comes as a by product of farming cows. Made from milk mixed with 3 other ingredients (salt, culture and rennet), cheese is actually worse for the planet than milk is, because not only does it come from cows (which have their own large carbon footprint) but it then requires a lot of milk to be produced – this particularly applies to hard cheese such as cheddar or parmesan, which in additional require longer cooking and aging times.
On average, one serving of 100g cheese is equivalent to 2.79kg CO2e.
Eggs
Eggs have a lower carbon footprint than other animal products. This is partly because they come from poultry, which in turn has a lower carbon footprint than other animals, but also because they can be sold on without any additional cooking or aging processes required.
Please bear in mind that eggs may carry salmonella, which is why the British Lion scheme was introduced in 1998 – over 90% of UK eggs now carry the lion stamp, which means they have been produced under the requirements of the British Lion Code of Practice for food safety.
What about organic produce, does this have a lower carbon footprint?
Whilst organic produce is certainly aimed to be healthier for human consumption (as it is grown or maintained without synthetic fertilisers or pesticides), it doesn’t necessarily mean that anything labelled as “organic” is better for the environment. The same applies to animals kept as free-range, although this is certainly something we do advocate.
- The room and land required for organic or free-range animals is often more than non-organic or non-free-range farms.
- In addition, the output is most likely less (this applies to meat production, resulting edible animal products and also crops), which means in theory that organic farms are less efficient. This can increase deforestation.
- Animals fed on organic foods and/or grass often grow slower, which can mean they produce more emissions over their lifetimes than animals that are not kept to organic feed and have corresponding shorter lifetimes before slaughter.
That all being said, organic meat production does rely more on pasture and less on grain-based or energy-intensive feed.
How can I reduce my carbon footprint without cutting out meat?
You may choose to move to a different diet as a lifestyle change, such as veganism, vegetarianism or becoming a pescatarian. However, if this isn’t for you, there are some lifestyle choices you can make to reduce your carbon footprint whilst still retaining a meat-based diet.
- Make informed choices – more and more transparency is entering the food market, and shopping locally at your nearest butcher will help as they will be able to tell you where the meat came from and how it was farmed.
- Reducing your meet consumption is a good way to reduce your carbon footprint. You could replace meat once or twice a week for example, with plant based alternatives or simply with vegetables, rice or grains.
- The same applies to eating cheese or drinking milk – can you reduce the amount you use or eat these in your diet? There are many plant based alternatives to both cheese and milk on the market now, which may be an idea if you don’t want to cut them out completely.
- Shop local – reduce your own emissions on travel or having groceries delivered.
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