New pastureland is often created by cutting down trees, which releases carbon dioxide stored in forests. More indirectly but also importantly, rising beef production requires increasing quantities of land. Additionally, nitrous oxide, another powerful greenhouse gas, is emitted from ruminant wastes on pastures and chemical fertilizers used on crops produced for cattle feed. This process is called “enteric fermentation,” and it’s the origin of cows’ burps. The longer explanation: Cows and other ruminant animals (like goats and sheep) emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as they digest grasses and plants. The short answer: Through the agricultural production process and through land-use change. How does beef production cause greenhouse gas emissions? That’s what makes the beef and sustainability discussion so complicated - and so contentious.ĭrawing from our World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future and other research, here are six common questions about beef and climate change: 1. Despite seeming contradictory, all these things are true. People say they want to eat more plants, but meat consumption is still rising. Beef production is becoming more efficient, but forests are still being cut down for new pasture.
And as with so many things in the public sphere, it’s easy for the conversation to get polarized.Īnimal-based foods are nutritious and especially important to livelihoods and diets in developing countries, but they also inefficiently use resources. Editor's Note: This article was updated in March 2022 to reflect the latest research.īeef and climate change are in the news these days, from cows’ alleged high-methane farts (fact check: they’re actually mostly high-methane burps) to comparisons with cars and airplanes (fact check: the world needs to reduce emissions from fossil fuels and agriculture to sufficiently rein in global warming).
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