Combat climate change by cutting beef and lamb production, report says

By Tara John, CNN

Updated 1458 GMT (2258 HKT) November 15, 2018

Beef is <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/29/opinions/sutter-beef-suv-cliamte-two-degrees/">widely recognized </a>as the most climate-damaging of all foods. A 2017 <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/resources/eating-less-beef-goes-long-way-toward-cutting-carbon" target="_blank">study</a> by the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/" target="_blank">Natural Resources Defense Council</a> on food consumption in the US calculates that each kilogram of beef produces 26.5 kilograms of CO2 emissions -- the highest among all the foods observed in the study, and five times more than chicken or turkey meat.<br /> <br />Animal agriculture is <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3437e/i3437e.pdf" target="_blank">responsible for 14.5%</a> of the world's greenhouse emissions, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, making it a significant contributor to climate change. Of those emissions, 65% come from beef and dairy cattle. <br /><br />Reducing beef consumption is an effective way of curbing global emissions. According to the NRDC, Americans now consume 19% less beef than they did in 2005. This is equivalent to a reduction of 185 million metric tons of emissions, or the annual tailpipe pollution of 39 million cars.<br />But why is beef so bad? "The feed is largely produced using lots of pesticide and fertilizer, which requires fossil fuels," explains Sujatha Bergen, one of the authors of the study. "Also, the digestive system of the cows produces methane, which is 25 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. And the manure emits additional greenhouse gases."
Photos: 10 common climate-damaging foods in the American diet
Beef – Beef is widely recognized as the most climate-damaging of all foods. A 2017 study by the Natural Resources Defense Council on food consumption in the US calculates that each kilogram of beef produces 26.5 kilograms of CO2 emissions -- the highest among all the foods observed in the study, and five times more than chicken or turkey meat.

Animal agriculture is responsible for 14.5% of the world's greenhouse emissions, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, making it a significant contributor to climate change. Of those emissions, 65% come from beef and dairy cattle.

Reducing beef consumption is an effective way of curbing global emissions. According to the NRDC, Americans now consume 19% less beef than they did in 2005. This is equivalent to a reduction of 185 million metric tons of emissions, or the annual tailpipe pollution of 39 million cars.
But why is beef so bad? "The feed is largely produced using lots of pesticide and fertilizer, which requires fossil fuels," explains Sujatha Bergen, one of the authors of the study. "Also, the digestive system of the cows produces methane, which is 25 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. And the manure emits additional greenhouse gases."
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Another ruminant, lamb, comes at number two -- confirming that red meat is particularly resource-intensive and, as such, damaging to the environment. For each kilo of lamb meat consumed, there are 22.9 kilos of emissions, the NRDC study estimates. <br /><br />Meat production also requires large amounts of animal feed, mainly the resource-intensive corn and soy. The synthetic fertilizer and the manure used to grow these also releases nitrous oxide, a climate-warming pollutant 298 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.
Photos: 10 common climate-damaging foods in the American diet
Lamb – Another ruminant, lamb, comes at number two -- confirming that red meat is particularly resource-intensive and, as such, damaging to the environment. For each kilo of lamb meat consumed, there are 22.9 kilos of emissions, the NRDC study estimates.

Meat production also requires large amounts of animal feed, mainly the resource-intensive corn and soy. The synthetic fertilizer and the manure used to grow these also releases nitrous oxide, a climate-warming pollutant 298 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.
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The third most damaging food, by some distance, is butter: one kilo of butter equals nearly 12 kilos of CO2 -- about half as many as beef. It belongs to the same supply chain, making dairy and beef cattle an environmentalist's nightmare.<br /><br />While Americans have greatly reduced their consumption of red meat in recent years, the NRDC reports that butter and other dairy products such as cheese and yogurt actually enjoyed a surge in the observed period, from 2005 to 2014.<br /><br />Butter is the most climate damaging of all dairy products because there are several steps involved in producing it that are energy-intensive: "For example, butter production requires separating raw milk into low-fat milk and cream, pasteurizing the cream, cooling the cream, ripening and churning," Sujatha Bergen told CNN.