Meat is a major contributor to our global greenhouse gas emissions: 15% of the total. More and more of us on the planet are eating meat and have been eating more and more of it at every meal for the past century. The food for these animals comes from the other side of the world, the meat is often consumed as a processed product… Why does meat contribute so much to global warming? Can we limit its impact? Should we limit our meat consumption and if so, how?
To answer these questions, this episode of the “Human Heat” podcast, which will be broadcast on Lemonde.fr on December 6, 2022, gives the floor to Carine Barbier: economist and research engineer at the CNRS, she is a specialist in the impact of food on the subject Climate.
Why does meat production and consumption emit so many greenhouse gases?
Of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with our food, the majority comes from meat. There are two types of meat animals, ruminants and monogastric animals, i.e. pigs and poultry. Ruminants have a special digestive system that causes them to expel methane through their burps. And methane is an extremely powerful greenhouse gas, having a global warming power 28 times greater than CO2.
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If we put it in a general context, from agricultural production to our plate, in France, food accounts for about 25% of our greenhouse gas emissions. So this is a very important element. And within that 25%, about two-thirds are emissions related to agricultural production itself, if we also factor in the so-called “inputs,” which are fertilizers, pesticides, everything you need, including animal feed, to make that food.
Is this the same for all meats? Is there a special feature for cattle, for sheep, i.e. for ruminants, because they emit more methane?
A kilo of beef that we buy for a large family emits about 14 kilos of greenhouse gases, 14 kilos of “equivalent CO2” which weighs CO2, methane and nitrous oxide (N2O). On the other hand, 1 kilo of pork emits three times less, about 4 kilos of greenhouse gases, and poultry half that, about 2 kilos of greenhouse gases. In these figures we have both the emissions from ruminants and the emissions related to feeding these livestock.
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