A report written for MPs by Christopher Barclay, a research specialist in the House of Commons Library, has been released today which acknowledges the need to reduce meat and dairy consumption.

A section titled ‘Are diet changes needed?’ in the report ‘How UK farmers could reduce greenhouse gas emissions’ describes the finding of two important studies regarding meat consumption. The section is reproduced below.

“A report in 2008 from Tara Garnett of the Food Climate Research Unit at the University of Surrey assessed GHG emissions from the UK’s agricultural production, food processing and distribution sectors. It concluded that while technical change would partially reduce the food and agriculture sector’s contribution to GHG emissions, only a radical change in food consumption in Europe and other developed countries would make any major difference. The report calculated that the meat and dairy sectors together accounted for over half of total food sector emissions. A vegetarian diet including milk was not necessarily less GHG-intensive than a meat-based diet.

A German report reached a similar conclusion. Agriculture was emitting almost as much GHG as road traffic in Germany, and if consumers wanted to see this output fall, the best thing they could do would be to reduce their consumption of milk and beef – particularly organic beef.

Consumers often believe that they are benefiting the climate by choosing organic products, but this is not always the case, the researchers found. For example, organic crop production can emit up to 60% more CO2 than non-organic. Organic crop production is some 60% lower in greenhouse gas emissions, due to the avoidance of artificial fertilisers, and if all German agriculture were converted to organic, there would be a 15-20% drop in emissions. However, this is not a practical possibility as it would require 70% more land – some 10m hectares – which is not available either in Germany or Europe.

The report stresses the need to reduce consumption of milk and beef. In addition:

The biggest contribution to reducing CO2 emissions, however, would be to restore German wetlands which have been dried out and used for farming. These areas account for over 30% of all agricultural emissions, although they occupy only 8% of the total agricultural area. Organic farming has a greater detrimental effect in these areas because it uses more land per kilogram of food produced. ”

The big question is, what’s this report for? Who will read it and what will the outcomes be? It’s fanstastic news that more and more people are finally acknowledging that a massive reduction in meat and dairy is necessary to make a real impact on the carbon footprint of the agricultural sector, but words are not enough, when will there be some action? When I find out, I’ll let you know!