IIT Mandi Director controversy | Meat industry and its impact on Climate Change

By Aayushi Sharma

Recently, a video of the IIT Mandi director, Prof Laxmidhar Behera, went viral over the internet. The professor in the video while addressing students said that landslides, cloudbursts are happening in Himachal Pradesh because people eat meat and butchering of animals has a symbiotic relationship with the degradation of the environment. This led to a huge controversy as the IIT Director received widespread criticism from all quarters for his so called “unscientific” remarks targeting food habits of people.

While it is still not clear, in what context the professor had spoken and whether he had meant about the connection between meat industry and climate change leading to extreme weather events, we decided to take a look into this often neglected but important issue. 

Meat consumption and climate change

Many studies confirm the disproportionate impact that meat production, particularly beef, has on the environment. The findings show that raising and slaughtering animals for food has a far worse impact on the climate than growing and processing produce for human consumption.

The FAO published its most recent estimate of the carbon footprint of animal agriculture using data from 2015 (each estimate uses data from a number of years earlier). It reduced the previous estimate of 14.5 percent released in 2013—which itself was down from the 2006 estimate of 18 percent—and put the share of livestock in total annual greenhouse gas emissions at approximately 11 percent. The new estimate is lower in terms of absolute numbers as well; animal agriculture is responsible for 6.19 billion tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions, down from the 7.1 billion tons the FAO estimated in 2013.

Is there a significant difference in emissions between the production of meat and plants?

Yes. There is a significant difference in emissions between the production of meat and plants; for example, it takes 2.5 kg of greenhouse gasses to produce 1 kg of wheat. In contrast, one kilogram of beef produces 70 kg of emissions. When addressing the climate crisis, societies should be aware of this significant disparity, according to the researchers.

Considering the worldwide increase in the number of animals raised for food, this finding is especially startling. According to FAO data, approximately 83 billion land animals will be killed for food in 2021 (chickens make up the vast majority), up from about 68 billion a decade ago and 55 billion in 2006. This Memorial Day weekend will mark the beginning of the summer grilling season in the US, during which time it is anticipated that 818 hot dogs will be consumed every second by Americans alone.

Scientists have repeatedly emphasized the need for a significant change in farming and eating practices if the consequences of global warming are to be avoided. There are now roughly three chickens for every person on the planet due to the expansion of meat production. 

If temperatures increase by about 3.7C as predicted if emissions remain high, many of the world’s most significant food-growing regions will experience rising temperatures and significantly altered rainfall patterns.

Is the meat industry, particularly beef, more resource-intensive than plant based foods?

Yes. Ruminant animals require more feed per unit of meat produced than pigs and poultry because they grow and reproduce at slower rates. Land must be used to grow animal feed, which has a carbon cost. All things considered, producing beef requires more resources than most other types of meat, and overall, animal-based foods require more resources than plant-based foods. In comparison to common plant proteins like beans, beef requires 20 times more land and produces 20 times as many greenhouse gas emissions per gram of edible protein. Even though the majority of grasslands on the planet cannot support the growth of crops or trees, these “native grasslands” are already heavily utilized for raising livestock, so the demand for beef is likely to put more strain on forests.

Why is there a need for efficient practices that are essential to reduce emission? What can be done?

Meat consumption, it’s Sustainability and Alternatives: It is true that meat and meat products play a significant role as sources of protein. Their consumption, particularly excessive consumption, has raised concerns about sustainability and health, though. Because of this, alternatives to traditional meat consumption have been considered, such as meat produced in a more sustainable manner or meat substitutes.

The OECD/FAO predicts that until 2030, meat consumption will rise by 14%, primarily as a result of population growth (estimated at 11%). Africa is expected to experience the largest increase in meat consumption—30%—followed by Asia and the Pacific Region (18%), Latin America (12%), North America (9%) and a much smaller increase in Europe (0.4%). The most significant increase will be in poultry meat, which will play a significant role in the diets of people primarily from developing nations, including China and India.

The expected rise in the global meat consmption:

The amount of natural resources used in animal production, or the amount of natural resources used per unit of edible or non-edible output, directly relates to GHG emission intensities. Nitrous oxide, methane, and carbon dioxide emissions for livestock production systems represent nitrogen, energy, and organic matter losses that reduce productivity and efficiency. Therefore, technologies and practices that increase production efficiency at the level of the individual animal and the herd are largely the foundation of potential interventions to reduce emissions. Additional reductions would be possible by switching to feed sources whose production requires less energy and by using more environmentally friendly power sources. Carbon sequestration through grasslands could contribute to the mitigation effort with global estimates of about 0.6 GT CO2-eq per year. 

References:

• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0757-z
• https://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/197623/icode/
• https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23738600/un-fao-meat-dairy-livestock-emissions-methane-climate-change
• https://ourworldindata.org/global-land-for-agriculture
• https://ourworldindata.org/drivers-of-deforestation
• https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22287498/meat-wildlife-biodiversity-species-plantbased
• https://newrepublic.com/article/168766/meat-industry-lobbying-climate
• https://www.fao.org/livestock-systems/global-distributions/chickens/en/
• https://www.wri.org/research/shifting-diets-sustainable-food-future
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10252260/