Meat is a leading emissions source – but few outlets report on it, analysis finds | Greenhouse gas emissions

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/sep/27/meat-gas-emissions-reporting

by GeraldKutney

6 comments

  1. Happens all the time. Most climate or sustainability things like in offices and other places just totally ignore this. It’s really annoying since going vegan or vegetarian has large impact

  2. I just read it and wanted to ask whether I understood it right. So the source says meat is 60% of the food production emissions, and the link shows food production is 1/3 of total emissions.
    By my maths, that’s 20% of all human emissions. Would that qualify as ‘leading’?

  3. Well I’ve cut out pork and lamb and I very rarely eat any beef anymore so I guess I’m doing my part probably?

  4. It is a weird thing about the information and the climate crisis and the willful ignorance about our diet. We could (individually but more powerfully collectively) choose to eat differently, but we choose to have a blind spot about our food … much of it is ultra processed and a lot of health and environmental consequences as a result. Systems of suffering all around. Thanks for posting.

  5. The U.S military is the single largest entity producing emissions worldwide. Nobody ever reports on it and most climate negotiations we even hint at being interested in must first exempt the D.O.D (D.O.W.) from any consideration. Inclusion is a non-starter.

  6. Globally, it only accounts for so much of the pie because non-OECD countries don’t emit nearly as much fossil fuels in relation to their agricultural output. It only accounts for 10% of emissions in countries like the UK, not 20%.

    This is classic UK news. Always trying to defer blame from fossil fuels with half truths.

    We do need a reduction of animal based foods in the “west,” but something < 20% of total food consumption will put us where we need to be in order to make the changes needed to the production side of the equation.

    When circular food systems are assumed, a 40:60 animal to plant protein is optimal in terms of both GHG and land use. https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-024-00975-2

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