FOOD
Climate Change:
It’s What’s for Dinner
W e all know that driving a gas-guzzling SUV contributes to climate change,
but did you know that what you put on your plate could too? Here’s how
your food choices affect climate change and what you, as a consumer, can do
about it.
The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Or-
ganization recently estimated that animal
agriculture is responsible for 18 percent
of global greenhouse gas emissions. That
is more than the emissions caused by
cars and light trucks combined!1 In the
United States, 6 percent of greenhouse
gases come from livestock
production, compared
with 19 percent from
transportation. In the
European Union,
agriculture is
responsible
for 9 percent
of greenhouse
gas emissions
and the continent is already feeling the impacts of seri-
ous droughts, especially in the south.2 These statistics
are significant and worth noting by the conscientious
consumer.3
How Does Livestock Cause
Climate Change?
One way livestock causes climate change is through
their manure, which releases methane. This situation
is particularly troubling when animal waste is stored in
anaerobic conditions such as the waste lagoons often
found at U.S. factory farms for pigs and dairy cattle, or
the huge manure piles connected to American cattle
feedlots.4,Such manure management is not just an
American phenomemon. European countries, includ-
ing the Netherlands, Poland and Romania, continue to
have problems with handling their large quantities of
manure waste.
According to the United Nations report, deforestation
— the massive clearing of forests — also plays a big part
in exacerbating climate change. More than 70 percent
of the Amazon rainforest’s deforested land is used for
Fact Sheet • December 2009
pasture and a substantial part of the remaining
land is used to produce crops fed to animals,
such as soya, which Europe imports on a
large scale. Plant production designed
to meet the needs of animals cov-
ers more and more land worldwide.
In the United States, 60 percent of
the agricultural output of the
Missouri-Mississippi basin
is used to feed livestock
and land once farmed
for local human
consumption is
now used for
industrialized
feed produc-
tion.5
More than 70 percent of
the Amazon rainforest’s
deforested land is used for
pasture.
Twenty percent of all fossil fuels used in the United
States go toward food production, including running
slaughterhouses and meat processing plants, fertilizer
production and water usage to raise cattle, as well as
the post-agricultural processes of transporting, pack-
aging and storing food.6 Globally, the food and drink
sector uses up to 23 percent of energy resources.7 Much
of this energy is wasted, as an estimated one third of all
food is thrown away in the UK alone — an astonishing
5.3 million tonnes a year worth some £12 billion (ap-
prox. 13.5 billion Euro).8
Are Animals Polluters?
Some studies estimate that feedlot beef (from cattle
that are confined in pens and fed corn to fatten them
up) require twice as much fossil fuel energy to produce
as grass-fed beef (from cattle that spend their lives on
pasture eating grass). Producing one pound of feedlot
beef results in the production of eight pounds of carbon
dioxide, the equivalent of a third of a gallon of gasoline.9
It also matters where the animals are from. A rough
estimate predicts that 120 million tons of C02 emissions
are directly attributable to U.S. domestic food transport
each year, and U.S. imports and exports likely account
for an additional 120 million tons. International im-
ports and exports are particularly ecologically damaging
because air miles emit more tonnes of C02 per mile than
any other form of transport.10 Even shipping, tradi-
tionally seen as a less impactful means of moving food
around the globe, has been underestimated as a source
of damage, with the world’s 90,000 cargo ships respon-
sible for up to 4 percent of all greenhouse emmissions.11
Worldwide, animal
agriculture produces more
greenhouse gas emissions
than cars and light trucks do
combined.
Combat Climate Change with
Your Fork!
1. Buy smart. Purchase food that is produced on
small, local farms rather than large industrial opera-
tions, and choose organic grass-fed beef and lamb over
conventional grain-fed meat.
2. Be label-savvy. Demand country-of-origin labeling
for food so you know where it comes from. Pay atten-
tion to information on the label if it shows the origin
of the product or its ingedients. Avoid buying everyday
products such as dairy, meat and seasonal vegetables
from remote locations.
3. Be in the know. Food and Water Europe will be
happy to provide more information. Contact Gabriella
Zanzanaini in Belgium, Anna Witowska in Poland or
Eve Mitchell in the United Kingdom.
Endnotes
1 Castel, V., P. Gerber, C. de Haan, M. Rosales, H. Steinfeld, T.
Wassenaar. “Livestock’s long shadow: Environmental issues and
options.”, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Na-
tions, November 2006. Available at: www.virtualcentre.org/en/
library/key_pub/longshad/A0701E00.htm
2 Agriculture and climate change, European Commission, http://
ec.europa.eu/agriculture/climate_change/index_en.htm
3 Galst, Liz. “Earth to PETA; Meat is not the No. 1 cause of global
warming.” Salon.com, Oct. 22, 2007. Available at: www.salon.
com/news/feature/2007/10/22/peta/
4 Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks:
1990-2005,,April 2007, USEPA #430-R-07-002 ch 6, p 6. Avail-
able at: www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/usinventoryre-
port.html
5 Galst, Liz. “Earth to PETA; Meat is not the No. 1 cause of global
warming.” Salon.com, Oct. 22, 2007. Available at: www.salon.
com/news/feature/2007/10/22/peta/
6 Wilkins, Jennifer. “Food Citizen: Fossil Fuels Consume Big
Portion of Food Cots.” Time Union (Albany), May 7, 2006.,www.
timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=479022
7 „Agriculture seen as ‘key’ to fighting climate change, http://
www.euractiv.com/en/cap/agriculture-
8 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/09/brit-
ain-food-drink-waste-figures
9 Galst, Liz. “Earth to PETA; Meat is not the No. 1 cause of global
warming.” Salon.com, Oct. 22, 2007. Available at: www.salon.
com/news/feature/2007/10/22/peta/
10 Norberg-Hodge, Helena et. al. Bringing the Food Economy
Home.(Bloomfield, CT: Kumerian Press, ISEC, 2002), p 31-32
11 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/09/ship-
ping-pollution
For more information:
web: www.foodandwaterwatch.org/world/europe
email: gzanzanaini@fweurope.org, emitchell@
fweurope.org, awitowska@fweurope.org
phone: +32488409662
Copyright © December 2009 Food & Water Europe