Fertilizers, Land Clearing, and Cow Burps: How the Meat Industry is Affecting the Environment

According to Project Drawdown, changing our dietary habits curbs our individual climate impact the most. A recent study compared vegans and meat eaters on various parameters and found that vegans emit 75% fewer greenhouse gases compared to meat eaters. 

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Why do animal products have such a big impact on our dietary emissions? Before we address that, let's examine the emissions of various animal and plant-based products:

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Which protein-rich foods are the worst for the environment?

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According to a 2020 research conducted by Our World in Data, beef emits 25 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (kgCO₂eq) per 100 grams. Lamb follows with 20 kgCO₂eq, farmed shrimp with 10 kgCO₂eq, and cheese with 8.4 kgCO₂eq.

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Towards the end of this table, we find plant-based protein sources such as tofu (1.6 kgCO₂eq), beans (0.65 kgCO₂eq), peas (0.36 kgCO₂eq), and nuts (-0.8 kgCO₂eq). Yes, nuts have a negative footprint. Tree nuts actually remove more CO₂ from the atmosphere than what is emitted during their production, making them carbon negative.

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In the middle, we have pork (6.5 kgCO₂eq), chicken (4.3 kgCO₂eq), eggs (3.8 kgCO₂eq), and farmed fish (3.5 kgCO₂eq) which have a lower footprint than beef and lamb.

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If you consume beef, replacing some portions of it with pork, chicken, and eggs can help reduce your carbon footprint.

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Getting your beef locally is not more sustainable

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Even if you purchase your beef locally, it will still have higher emissions than chicken and pork. Contrary to the popular notion, transportation of food has a minuscule impact on its carbon footprint.

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Another study conducted by Our World in Data shows that if you walk to your local farmer and buy beef from them instead of beef grown in a beef herd, it will reduce your emissions by only 0.35% or 0.207 kg CO₂eq per kg.

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If an average household substitutes their calories from red meat and dairy with chicken, fish, or eggs just one day per week, they will save the same amount.

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Why is eating meat worse for the environment?

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Beef, lamb, and dairy production practices result in higher emissions. Cows and sheep are ruminant species. They can digest their food without thoroughly chewing it and as a result, they belch out methane during their digestive process. 

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Methane, a greenhouse gas, is around 25x more potent than CO₂ over a 100-year period. Additionally, cows require more feed than other types of meat due to their longer growth and reproduction periods.

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Clearing large tracts of land for feed production for these animals leads to deforestation, responsible for 8% of greenhouse gas emissions.

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The meat industry also uses nitrogen fertilizer to stimulate plant growth and improve the feed, resulting in the release of CO₂ and another greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide.

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Producers need to adopt better meat production practices that can mitigate the highest impacts of production.

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Making everyone shift to a plant-based diet is not practical. People in many low-income countries rely on small quantities of meat and dairy as a key source of nutrition.

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As consumers in countries with more diverse food options, we can replace red meat with lower impact options such as chicken or eggs and incorporate more plant-based sources of protein such as tofu, nuts, peas, and beans.