Food Ethics Council

The November meeting of the Food Ethics Council’s Business Forum discussed what environmental concerns around meat-eating mean for the food sector. A report of the meeting is available here.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, livestock account for 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Meat and dairy production also contributes to biodiversity loss and water scarcity. These pressures will grow as global meat demand rises.

The November meeting of the Food Ethics Council’s Business Forum, chaired by Julia Hailes MBE, explored trends in meat production and consumption, their environmental implications, and opportunities to mitigate them.

We are very grateful to Tara Garnett, from the Food Climate Research Network, who spoke at the meeting. She led the discussion with a summary of her recent report Meat and dairy production and consumption: exploring the livestock sector’s contribution to the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions and assessing what a less GHG intensive system of production and consumption might look like.

We have published a short report of the meeting. The key points we took from the discussion were that:

• Livestock contribute about eight percent of total greenhouse gas emissions from UK consumption. Meat accounts for more than two-thirds of that.
• UK consumption of poultry meat has doubled over the past 20 years, whereas red meat and pork has remained static. UK per capita consumption is well above the world average.
• Changes to production can increase efficiency and reduce emissions, but producers should be alert to potential trade-offs with other sustainability criteria and animal welfare.
• Policy makers are exploring the scope to reduce emissions by reducing meat demand. The economics of this are uncertain and, though potentially costly for UK meat producers, would not necessarily harm them.
• Initiatives to promote sustainable production and consumption must consider: (a) differences between livestock species, bus-iness models and production systems; (b) opportunity costs of sustainability strategies; (c) what foods we would eat instead if we ate less meat.
• Businesses should expect a range of public and private sector initiatives intended to improve the sustainability not only of specific products, but also of the diet that we produce, sell and eat.

Click here to find out more about the Business Forum.