Meat production releases more CO2 than vehicular emission

A kilogram of beef is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution than driving for three hours while leaving all the lights on back home, according to a new study by a team of Japanese researchers from the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Tsukuba.

London, July 19 : A kilogram of beef is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution than driving for three hours while leaving all the lights on back home, according to a new study by a team of Japanese researchers from the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Tsukuba.

The team led by Akifumi Ogino accessed the effects of beef production on global warming, water acidification and eutrophication, and energy consumption, and by combining this information with data from their earlier studies on the impact of beef fattening systems, calculated the total environmental load of a portion of beef.

Their findings revealed that producing a kilogram of beef led to the emission of greenhouse gases with a warming potential equivalent to 36.4 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

It also released fertilising compounds equivalent to 340 grams of sulphur dioxide and 59 grams of phosphate, and consumed 169 megajoules of energy.

"In other words, a kilogram of beef is responsible for the equivalent of the amount of CO2 emitted by the average European car every 250 kilometres, and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days," the researchers wrote in their study in the Animal Science Journal.

The calculations, based on standard industrial methods of meat production in Japan, however, did not include the impact of managing farm infrastructure and transporting the meat.

As such, the total environmental load was much higher than what the study suggested, the researchers said.

The study further said that most of the greenhouse gas emissions were in the form of methane released from the animals' digestive systems, while the acid and fertilising substances came primarily from their waste.

Over two-thirds of the energy goes towards producing and transporting the animals' feed, the study said.

Possible interventions, including better waste management and shortening the interval between calving by one month, could reduce the total environmental load by nearly six percent, New Scientist quoted the study as saying.

ANI