Emissions from Animal Agriculture—16.5% Is the New Minimum Figure

Abstract

Knowledge production within the climate sciences is quickly taken up by multiple stakeholders, reproduced in scientific citation and the broader culture, even when it is no longer accurate. This article accomplishes two goals: firstly, it contributes to the clarification of the quantification of emissions from animal agriculture, and secondly, it considers why the dominant framing of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) on this subject focuses on maximizing production efficiency. Specifically, analysing the FAO’s own work on this topic shows that the often-used FAO estimate that emissions from animal agriculture amount to 14.5% of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is now out of date. In returning to the FAO’s own explanation of its data sources and its more recent analysis of emissions from animal agriculture, this article finds that the figure of minimum estimate should be updated to 16.5%. The tendency of the FAO to prioritize a technological approach focused on making animal production more “eco-efficient” is critically examined in light of many other evidence-based calls for reductions in animal consumption. An explanation for this FAO approach is offered in terms of a type of epistemological bias.

Rapid global phaseout of animal agriculture has the potential to stabilize greenhouse gas levels for 30 years and offset 68 percent of CO2 emissions this century

“…Nutritionally balanced plant-dominated diets are common, healthy and diverse [13][14][15][16][17], but are rarely considered in comprehensive strategies to mitigate climate change [18], and there is controversy about their viability and the magnitude of their climate benefit [19]. One source of this discordance is that widely cited estimates of livestock contributions to global warming [4,5,20] account only for ongoing emissions, and not for the substantial and reversible warming impact of historical land use change [1,21].…”

“…The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations estimates that emissions from animal agriculture represent around 7.1 Gt CO 2 eq per year [5], 14.5% of annual anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, although this is based on outdated data and likely now represents and underestimate [20], and recent estimates [1] suggest that on the order of 800 Gt CO 2 equivalent carbon could be fixed via photosynthesis if native biomass were allowed to recover on the 30% of Earth's land surface current devoted to livestock production. Thus, crudely, eliminating animal agriculture has the potential to reduce net emissions by the equivalent of around 1,350 Gt CO 2 this century.…”

In Vitro Screening of Plant Materials to Reduce Ruminal Protozoal Population and Mitigate Ammonia and Methane Emissions

“…It is essential for the production of meat, dairy, and agricultural dung, and has a significant effect on regional stability and improving livelihoods [1]. The animal production industry is thought to contribute up to 16.5% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which have become a major concern in recent decades [2,3]. Enteric fermentation and feed production activities, which account for almost 45% of the sector's overall emissions, are the main source of GHG emissions in ruminant agriculture [4].…”

Rapid global phaseout of animal agriculture has the potential to stabilize greenhouse gas levels for 30 years and offset 68 percent of CO2emissions this century

“…Nutritionally balanced plant-dominated diets are common, healthy and diverse (Agnoli et al, 2017;American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada, 2003;Craig et al, 2009;Tilman and Clark, 2014;Willett et al, 2019), but are rarely considered in comprehensive strategies to mitigate climate change (IPCC, 2018), and there is controversy about their viability and the magnitude of their climate benefit (Liu et al, 2021). One source of this discordance is that widely cited estimates of livestock contributions to global warming (Gerber et al, 2013;Steinfeld et al, 2006;Twine, 2021) account only for ongoing emissions , and not for the substantial and reversible warming impact of historical land use change (Hayek et al, 2021;Strassburg et al, 2020).…”

“…The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations estimates that emissions from animal agriculture represent around 7.1 Gt CO 2 eq per year (Gerber et al, 2013), 14.5% of annual anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, although this is based on outdated data and likely now represents and underestimate (Twine, 2021), and recent estimates (Hayek et al, 2021) suggest that on the order of 800 Gt CO 2 equivalent carbon could be fixed via photosynthesis if native biomass were allowed to recover on the 30% of Earth's land surface current devoted to livestock production. Thus, crudely, eliminating animal agriculture has the potential to reduce net emissions by the equivalent of around 1,350 Gt CO 2 this century.…”