Science says beef should be on the chopping block in climate plans

Yet, beef consumption, in particular, has been singled out as uniquely harmful to the planet. In 2019, the EAT-Lancet Commission report and the special report on climate change and land by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change made strong suggestions about the need to move away from cattle ranching. Livestock are responsible for about 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, on a par with all of global transportation. Indeed, beef as straw man is not accidental, according to Marion Nestle, an author and nutrition professor emerita at New York University. “The recommendation to eat less meat for reasons of human and planetary health imply a need for changes in government policy,” she said. “People opposed to government on principle see public health not as a societal benefit, but rather as an intrusion on their personal liberties.” She says that public health, because it is about societies, not individuals, is inherently communitarian and antithetical to individualism. Meanwhile, she says, JBS, the largest meat producer in the world, admits meat production plays a role in climate change and says it will reduce that impact.