Livestock Responsible for 51% of Emissions, Says Worldwatch Institute

A new report called "Livestock and Climate Change" identifies livestock as the source of an astronomical 51 percent of human-created greenhouse gas emissions.

Let me say that again: 51 percent. What happened to that manageable number—18 percent—people usually throw around? And who exactly is making these crazy assertions?

The report appears in the November/December issue of Worldwatch Magazine, a publication of Worldwatch Institute, a reputable environmental think tank based in Washington, DC. Its authors are Robert Goodland, former lead environmental adviser at the World Bank Group, and Jeff Anhang, research officer and environmental specialist at the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation.

They explain that the 18 percent number you always hear was published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which identified 7,516 million tons of CO2e per year to be attributable to livestock.

FAO came up with this number by adding up the emissions generated by clearing land to graze livestock and grow feed, by raising the livestock and by getting the livestock to the consumer. The study's authors explain that the initial figure undercounts or overlooks 25,048 million tons of CO2e associated with livestock.

According to the report's authors, the original FAO number did not account for important realities of modern meat production such as cows' breathing, the clearcutting of Amazon rainforest for grazing or the entirety of the marine products industry (apparently, up to half of marine organisms caught go to livestock; who knew?).

The authors' analysis reveals that livestock are actually responsible for 32,564 million tons of CO2e, which amounts to 51 percent of total emissions attributable to human activity.

Can it be true? The authors seems to be meticulous, even noting that preparing meat requires longer, hotter cooking, which, in the developing world at least, means burning more charcoal, which puts extra pressure on forests.

But it's still hard to swallow that such a vast amount of greenhouse gases might originate in this one industry. It's even harder to believe their solution is going to take off; they advocate entirely replacing the meat and dairy industries with plant-based substitutes such as soy milk and seitan burgers.

Will Tofurky save us all?

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