THE TRUE ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS OF MEAT.

Climate impact labels could persuade people to choose more climate-friendly foods, a study has found.
Providing information about the environmental impact of foods is an effective method of altering consumer choices, the clinical trial by researchers from Johns Hopkins and Harvard universities concluded. It comes after an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that urged country leaders to encourage people to choose less carbon-heavy diets. It placed particular emphasis on meat consumption, especially red meat like beef and pork. Industrial meat is the single biggest cause of deforestation globally and is responsible for annual emissions roughly equivalent to those from every car, truck and plane in the world, according to Greenpeace. “Animal-based food production, primarily driven by beef production, is responsible for 14.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and is an important modifiable contributor to climate change,” say the authors of the clinical trial. Policymakers in the UK and across the world ha ve been discussing how to persuade people to consume less of the carbon-heavy product.In England, around 85 per cent of agricultural land is given over to grazing pastures for animals like cows or used to grow feed for livestock. Greenpeace says a 70 per cent reduction in meat production is necessary for the land to be used sustainably.

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