Environmental impact of meat production
24/05/2022 10:57
Environmental impact of meat production
24/05/2022 10:57
Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Experts of Institute for Forecasting and Macroeconomic Research (IPMI) assessed CO2-eq emissions from the production of animal products. In 2020, emissions from meat production in the Republic of Uzbekistan amounted to 123.9 million tons of CO2-eq.
With the introduction of industrial animal husbandry, meat production has tripled in the last 50 years. According to FAO data for 2020, there were more than 1.5 billion cows, 1.3 billion sheep, 1.1 billion goats, 952.6 thousand pigs, 450.3 thousand turkeys and 33.1 billion chickens in the world, and production meat amounted to about 340 million tons. By 2050, global meat consumption is expected to grow by 76%. In this case, without reducing the production and consumption of meat and other animal products, it will be almost impossible to achieve the goals agreed in Paris, in particular, keeping the increase in global average temperature well below 2 degrees Celsius and efforts to limit the increase in temperature to 1.5 degrees.
How do emissions from different foods compare?
There are various ways to assess the relative climate impact of different food groups. This material uses data from the largest meta-analysis of global food systems by Joseph Poor and Thomas Nemechek (2018), published in the journal Science. This study looked at data from over 38,000 commercial farms in 119 countries.
The chart below (Figure 1) compares the average greenhouse gas emissions per kg of different foods. So, in the production of 1 kg of beef, almost 100 kg of CO2-eq. Lamb emits just under 40 kg CO2-eq, while farm-raised shrimp and pork emit 26.87 and 12.31 kg CO2-eq. respectively.
The resource-intensive nature of raising cattle also explains why, on average, cheese and other dairy products have a higher climate cost than pork and poultry. In addition, chickens and pigs are not ruminants and therefore do not produce as much methane, which has a global warming potential that is 30 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Compared to meat and dairy, plant-based foods have a much lower carbon footprint. On average, emissions from plant products are 10 to 50 times less than those from animal products.
Carbon footprint of meat production in Uzbekistan
According to the State Statistics Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, more than 2,000 thousand tons of meat (in live weight) are produced annually in Uzbekistan. In 2020, the production of cattle meat amounted to 1,925.9 thousand tons, sheep and goats - 394.8 thousand tons, pigs - 3.9 thousand tons, poultry - 181.1 thousand tons. Using average greenhouse gas emissions, we find that in 2020, the production of beef alone emitted more than 110 million tons of CO2-eq. In general, for 2020, emissions from meat production amounted to 123.9 million tons of CO2-eq. Compared to 2000, greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 increased by almost 3 times. And although emissions from poultry meat have increased 10 times since 2000, this type of meat causes much less environmental damage compared to beef and lamb. In general, in the structure of GHG emissions for 2020, the largest share falls on the production of beef - 92.8%, lamb - 6.3%, poultry meat - 0.87% and pork - 0.03%.
Scientists constantly emphasize that in order to avoid dangerous global warming, it is necessary to rethink eating habits. However, do not go to extremes and immediately switch to a vegetarian diet. Either way, animal products contain more nutrients per calorie than vegetarian ones. Therefore, it is very important to choose the right diet. In addition, meat is an important part of history, traditions and culture, and meat dishes have become a manifestation of the cultural identity of certain regions and peoples. It is enough to replace the "greenhouse" product with a more environmentally friendly analogue at least once a day and this will help keep the Earth green.
In the future, experts from the Institute for Forecasting and Macroeconomic Research will analyze greenhouse gas emissions depending on changes in consumer eating habits.
24/04/2024Read more
$ 1 | 12667.00 | +0.022% |
1 | 13481.49 | -2.022% |
₽ 1 | 135.77 | -0.506% |