Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Dietary change is essential if global warming is not to exceed 2C, says report. Photograph: Brent Lewin/Getty
Images
Damian Carrington
The report builds on recent scientific studies which show that soaring meat
demand in China and elsewhere could tip the worlds climate into chaos.
Emissions from livestock, largely from burping cows and sheep and their
manure, currently make up almost 15% of global emissions. Beef and dairy
alone make up 65% of all livestock emissions.
Appetite for meat is rocketing as the global population swells and becomes
more able to afford meat. Meat consumption is on track to rise 75% by
2050, and dairy 65%, compared with 40% for cereals. By 2020, China alone
is expected to be eating 20m tonnes more of meat and dairy a year.
Two recent peer-reviewed studies calculated that, without severe cuts in
this trend, agricultural emissions will take up the entire worlds carbon
budget by 2050, with livestock a major contributor. This would mean every
other sector, including energy, industry and transport, would have to be
zero carbon, which is described as impossible. The Chatham House report
concludes: Dietary change is essential if global warming is not to exceed
2C.
The consumer survey in the report, covering 12 nations including the US,
China, India, Brazil and the EU bloc, found a link between the awareness of
climate change and its impacts and the willingness to change behaviour.
Acceptance that human activities cause climate change was significantly
higher in China, India and Brazil than in the US, UK and Japan.
The good news, said Bailey, was that the majority of future demand
appears to be in the countries [like China and Brazil] that are the most
receptive to change. He said it was pretty disappointing that in
developed countries, where meat and dairy eating is highest, awareness of
livestocks impact on the climate is low and willingness to change is low.
Brigitte Alarcon, sustainable food policy officer at WWF said: Our LiveWell
project has shown we can cut a quarter of our climate emissions from the
European food supply chain by eating more pulses, fruit and vegetables and
by reducing our meat consumption. National governments should improve
food education to encourage healthy eating habits and environmental
sustainability as a first step.
A spokesman for the UK government said: Greenhouse gas emissions from
the UK agricultural industry have fallen by more than 20% since 1990.
While food choices can have an impact on emissions, well managed
livestock also provide many environmental benefits including supporting
biodiversity.
A separate survey by the Eating Better alliance, also published on
Wednesday, shows that UK consumers are beginning to eat less meat. The
YouGov poll found 20% saying they have cut the amount of meat they eat
over the last year, with only 5% say they are eating more.
Prof Keith Richards, at the University of Cambridge and one of the
researchers behind the two key scientific studies, said: This is not a radical
vegetarian argument; it is an argument about eating meat in sensible
amounts as part of healthy, balanced diets.
Posted by Thavam