Criticism of meat eaters is not new, they are said to make a major contribution to the end of the world with their eating habits. Meat production has a reputation for causing immense greenhouse gas emissions and leaving a huge ecological footprint. But is that really true? And what is actually the point of eating less meat? Scientists from the University of Oxford have now calculated what impact our meat consumption is really having on the planet. The study was published in the journal “Nature Food”.
According to the research team, the study is the first to analyze in detail the impact of diet on other environmental measures overall. More than 55,000 people were surveyed about their dietary habits, including vegans, vegetarians, pescetarians and meat eaters. This data was then linked to data from a large analysis that looked at the life cycle assessments of 38,000 farms in 119 countries. Data was collected on greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption and potential biodiversity loss, among other things. Differences in food production and procurement that were identified when reviewing the life cycle assessments were taken into account.
According to the study, a person who eats more than 100 grams of meat every day produces an average of 10.24 kilograms of greenhouse gases every day. That’s almost twice what people with low meat consumption, less than 50 grams a day, produce. The research team calculated 5.37 kilograms per day for them. For people who are somewhere in between with their eating habits, the average value is 7.04. Pescetarians have 4.74, vegetarians 4.16 and vegans 2.47 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions.
The organic apple has an average CO2 footprint of 0.2 kilograms of CO2 equivalents per kilogram, a kilogram of pineapple that came to Germany by plane has an average of 15.1. A kilo of organic butter has a value of 11.5, a kilo of beef is 21.7, and a kilo of tofu is 1.0. The figures come from a listing by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Heidelberg. For comparison: In 2021, the transport sector accounted for 19.4 percent of the total emissions with 148 million tons of CO2 emitted. Road traffic accounts for the lion’s share at 97 percent. The average CO2 emissions of a mid-size car that runs on petrol is 25 kilograms per 100 kilometers in city traffic. A diesel of the same category emits an average of 21 kilograms.
According to the Federal Environment Agency, fewer greenhouse gas emissions were generated in Germany last year than in the previous year. The total emissions amounted to 746 million tons in 2022, a decrease of 1.9 percent compared to 2021. However, greenhouse gas emissions increased by 4.5 percent from 2020 to 2021. Agriculture accounted for 7.4 percent of the total emissions and was the largest cause of methane emissions at more than 76 percent.* Of this, 61.9 percent are methane emissions, which, according to the Federal Environment Agency, are caused by the digestion process from ruminants, such as cattle or sheep, from the treatment of manure and from the storage processes of fermentation residues from renewable raw materials in biogas plants.
Based on the study results, the Oxford scientists conclude that “despite the considerable differences due to where and how food is produced, […] the link between environmental impacts and the consumption of food of animal origin clear”. According to the researchers, the data should lead to a reduction in meat consumption.
The British meat industry had objections. Nick Allen, CEO of the British Meat Processors Association, described the report to the BBC as “frustrating” because “it only looks at emissions from livestock farming. It doesn’t take into account that the carbon in the meadows, trees and hedgerows [ on the farms] is absorbed. If you take those totals into account, the picture would probably be different,” he said. Peter Scarborough, who led the Oxford study, disagreed. Studies have shown that CO2 uptake by grassland only has “a modest effect”.
* This sentence was added after publication.
