Twenty meat and dairy producers are emitting more greenhouse gases than three of Europe’s largest economies - Germany, France or Britain - flying in the face of calls to greatly reduce the impact of the livestock sector on the environment.

According to Meat Atlas, a new report compiled by Friends of the Earth and the European political foundation Heinrich Böll Stiftung, “the five biggest meat and milk producers emit the same volume of climate-damaging greenhouse gases as Exxon, an oil giant.”

“In 2018, two non-profit organizations – GRAIN and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy – calculated the emissions from 35 of the world’s largest meat and dairy producers,” said the report. “The findings were shocking: just five meat-and-milk giants, JBS, Tyson, Cargill, Dairy Farmers of America and Fonterra, produce more combined emissions per year than major oil players like Exxon, Shell or BP. Taken together, 20 livestock firms are responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than Germany, Britain or France.”

The report also compiled the findings of previous studies from other organisations including the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which highlighted the contribution animal agriculture makes to global GHG emissions.

According to the FAO, livestock was responsible for 14.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2013. Of these livestock-related emissions, the FAO estimated that 45 per cent came from feed production while 39 per cent was from methane produced by ruminants including cattle, sheep and goats.

“Taken together, these emissions make up 56 to 58 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions from the food sector – even though livestock contributes to only 18 per cent of the calories and 37 per cent of the protein supply of the world’s human population,” said the report.

Friends of the Earth added that livestock accounted for around 70 per cent of all agricultural land, while 40 per cent of global cropland was used to produce feed for animals. Campaigners blamed the rising demand for pig and chicken meat for the significant environmental impact of the last two years.

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“As feed use rises with increased pork and poultry production, land use change has resulted in lost carbon and more greenhouse gases from manufacturing and the use of fertilizers for animal feed. Not just ruminants, but poultry and pigs, therefore, have contributed to significant emissions in the last two decades.”

The food industry is also benefiting from enormous financial backing from investors and bank loans. Research by campaign group Feedback found that in April last year, 3,000 investors gave $228 billion to the 35 largest meat and milk corporations. Between 2015 and 2020, $167 billion in loans were given by more than 200 banks, with financial institutions in the US, France and UK providing 51 per cent of total credit.

“These financial flows directly drive climate change: together, the 35 corporations emit more greenhouse gases than the economy of Germany. Thirteen of them also score weakly on the Farm Animal Risk and Return (FAIRR) Index, which analyses protein producers across risks, including human rights, climate impact and antimicrobial resistance.”

Campaigners accused the food industry of profiting from the status quo, the fact that in many countries, “habits, role models and advertising, along with cultural traditions, combine to promote meat consumption”.

“Despite the global impact of meat, no country in the world has a strategy to reduce consumption or transform production. Governments can play a major role through laws,” said Friends of the Earth.

However, according to a report out in the Guardian today, Dutch politicians are currently considering new plans to compel hundreds of farmers to sell up or reduce livestock numbers in an effort to reduce pollution from ammonia and combat the country’s “nitrogen crisis”. While this is not directly addressing GHGs, reducing livestock numbers will have the added benefit of lowering carbon dioxide and methane emissions.

Andrew Gough is Media and Investigations Manager for Surge.

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