The upcoming COP28 climate summit in Dubai is set to witness the United Nations issuing a roadmap that urges Western nations, including the United States, to significantly reduce meat consumption as a crucial step in averting a climate catastrophe, according to Bloomberg.
The UN’s Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) will release a global food systems roadmap emphasizing the need to curb the consumption of meat, categorizing it as a vital element in the broader initiative to decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
However, skeptics are challenging these warnings, highlighting that the U.S. agricultural sector contributes merely 1.4 percent of global emissions and has implemented solutions that position it as the nation’s lowest-emitting economic sector. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson, a Pennsylvania Republican, emphasized the climate-friendly efforts of American farmers and ranchers.
“America’s farmers and ranchers are climate heroes, reducing emissions while providing abundant and affordable food, fiber, and fuel,” Thompson stated. “Regulating producers out of business in the U.S. will not effectively address global climate change but export production to foreign countries with hostile regimes and worse emissions profiles while harming food security and affordability. Simply put, the world needs American farmers and ranchers more than the UN.”
Jeremy Coller, chair and founder of the FAIRR Initiative, an investor network promoting climate-friendly agriculture, stressed the urgency of focusing on the food and agriculture sector in climate policy. Coller emphasized the failure of leading meat and dairy companies to reduce emissions, calling for increased policy attention to address food system emissions, which account for an estimated third of greenhouse gas emissions and 40% of methane.
U.S. climate czar John Kerry weighed in on the discussion, emphasizing the significant contribution of agriculture to global emissions. He highlighted the need for agriculture to be a central part of the solution for achieving net-zero emissions.
Please think about donating below.