Beef & Your Carbon Footprint

Newsletter content created for ActBlueNow

Target audience: teenagers and young adults in Ireland / demonstrated interest in climate change, sustainablity, environmental issues

Beef is a huge industry, with a huge impact on your carbon footprint. 

With 1.3 billion cattle globally, the beef industry is worth almost 332.5 billion USD src. Beef production increased from 56 million tonnes between 2016 and 2019, and is expected to grow another 3.3% by 2026.  This equates to a total carbon footprint of around 2,000,000 million tons – far greater than the total carbon footprint of Ireland, around 40 million tons.  

Where is beef produced?: The USA is both the top producer and consumer of beef. Brazil is the #1 exporter. Consumption of beef is high in richer countries in the USA and Europe, but less so in “the Global South”. This is part of a bigger trend – often, environmentally harmful foods are grown and produced in cheaper, developing countries, and exported for sale in richer countries. 

For this reason, consumers aren’t always aware of how beef is produced, and the environmental damage associated with the industry.

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Why is the beef industry growing so much? Beef has evolved from being an expensive commodity that only men ate (source) to one of the western world’s most popular foods. Why?

The world population is growing, but this doesn’t just mean new customers – it means new challenges in making sure there is enough food for us all.

The bad news?: beef is not a sustainable industry for the future. 

A drastic overhaul of agriculture is needed in order to feed the growing billions without destroying our planet and worsening climate change even more (source). 

By 2050, the world will need to provide 56% more calories than it did in 2010. We need to reduce our consumption and find more sustainable food – before it’s too late. 

How does beef affect my carbon footprint?

Beef’s carbon footprint is enormous – generating 36 kilograms of CO2eq per kilogram of beef produced! It contributes 65% of all emissions from the livestock sector.

The emissions from beef production alone are equivalent to the total emissions generated by India – a country of over 1 billion people! (source) 

How can one industry do so much environmental damage, and how does consuming it contribute to your carbon footprint?

Resource-intensiveness – Producing beef requires a crazy amount of natural resources to produce relatively small quantities.  Beef requires 20 times more land and emits 20 times more GHG emissions per gram of protein than plant proteins like beans do. 1,800 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of beef, and this excessive water by big companies can create shortages for local people. 

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Fertilizers and agrochemicals – The fertilizers used in growing animal feed emit nitrous oxide, and are often poisonous to land when used long term. The runoff from chemicals can poison local water and create “dead zones”, where nothing else can grow. When the land is destroyed, farmers cut down more forests to expand their growing farm. Which brings us to..

Deforestation – As the demand for beef grows, farmers cut down forests to make more space for beef cattle. After a few years, the overfarmed land is destroyed, so farmers move on, and cut down more trees. 70% of rainforest destruction in the Amazon is attributed to beef farming. (source) When these forests are cut down, the carbon they stored is released into the atmosphere. Burning forts toxifies the air even more quickly. Native grasslands are cut down to make room for beef. Tropical deforestation for agriculture and tree plantations releases 2.6 GtCO2 yr. (source)

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Not only do we use the carbon-storing advantages the forests provide, we replace them with something that pollutes the atmosphere – cows.

Enteric fermentation –  Livestock create 14.5% of all greenhouse emissions (source). Cows’ are “ruminant” animals, meaning their digestive system naturally ferments their food and creates methane gas as a byproduct. This is released into the atmosphere when cows burp or pass gas. Methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas – scientists estimate it was responsible for 23% of climate change in the 20th century! (source) 

Manure mismanagement – A typical beef cow produces around 55kg of manure per day. (source) Poor management and dumping of the cow’s manure means this dangerous gas builds up and erodes the ozone layer.

Beef is simply not sustainable. Although the industry is eager to sell even more beef (the US Beef Industry spends over 800 million USD on marketing each year!), even major meat companies like Tyson Foods and Cargill recognise beef is not sustainable, and are starting to invest in the alternative protein market.  

It’s clear that beef’s profitability doesn’t make up for the disastrous effects it has on our planet. Companies are trying to improve manure management and create technology that prevents nitrogen in animal waste from turning into nitrous oxide – but it seems unlikely this powerful industry will make drastic changes without serious pressure from consumers of governments.

What can I do?

Finding out that one of your favorite foods has such a harmful effect on the earth can be worrying. The pressure to make big changes can feel daunting, but it’s important to focus on one small thing at a time.

Reducing your beef consumption: If you aren’t ready to stop eating beef entirely, consider reducing the amount of beef you eat. 

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Substitute beef for fish or chicken. Switching beef to chicken could cut your dietary carbon footprint in half. 

Try a plant-based diet: Quitting meat isn’t just about animal cruelty any more, it’s about making one small sacrifice to preserve our planet for future generations. 

Talking to your family: Let’s be realistic: especially in agricultural countries like Ireland, a lot of people instantly recoil at the thought of giving up meat. For young people living and sharing groceries with family, it can be hard to make your parents understand your decision. 

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Make sure you get enough protein. If you chose to eat less meat, or become vegetarian or vegan, the first question you’ll be likely to hear is “how do you get enough protein?”. Understanding nutrition and making healthy choices is extremely important for everyone (think of it this way – being vegan is surely healthier than living off fast food burgers, even though those have a lot of protein!).