Sep 15, 2021 17:00:00

How much impact does meat and rice production have on climate change?

In recent years, reducing greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide and methane has become an international issue as a countermeasure against climate change.

It has been pointed out that livestock has a great influence on methane emissions, but as of September 13, 2021, the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by agriculture such as livestock and vegetable production is newly calculated. The research report was released.

Global greenhouse gas emissions from animal-based foods are twice those of plant-based foods | Nature Food
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00358-x

Meat accounts for nearly 60% of all greenhouse gases from food production, study finds | Meat industry | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/13/meat-greenhouses-gases-food-production-study

The research team sought greenhouse gas emissions from the production of more than 170 plant and 16 animal foods in more than 200 countries. As a result, it became clear that 17,318 million tons of greenhouse gases are emitted annually throughout the world's food production systems, including the use of agricultural machinery, fertilizer application, and food transportation. .. That's 35% of the world's annual greenhouse gas emissions.

Of the greenhouse gas emissions from food production, 57% was emitted by livestock and 29% was emitted by the cultivation of plant foods. Focusing on livestock, beef, milk, pork, chicken, etc. emit a lot of greenhouse gases, and the production of beef, which emits the most, accounts for 25% of the total food emissions. In addition, plants emit a large amount of rice, wheat, sugar cane, etc., and greenhouse gas emissions from rice production account for 12% of the total food.

According to the research team, the amount of greenhouse gas emitted when producing 1 kg of wheat is 2.5 kg, while the amount of greenhouse gas emitted when producing 1 kg of beef is 70 kg. 'To produce more meat, we need to produce more food, which produces more greenhouse gases,' said Xiaoming Xu, co-author of the research report. Explains the reason why so much greenhouse gas is emitted at the time.

In addition, co-author Atour Jain said, 'Part of the motivation for this study was to calculate our own carbon dioxide emissions as a strict vegetarian. Let people change their diet. 'I can't impose my opinion on others, but if people are worried about climate change, think seriously about changing their diet,' he said. Should be '.