"Only far less meat can save the environment"

To stop global warming, we all have to eat less – far less – meat. A new international study presents us with a hard choice: either the food industry has to become more sustainable, or we destroy the planet.

90 % less beef

After a new UN report on climate change, a team of renowned international scientists presents an analysis of the impact of the food industry on the environment. The results are harsh: avoiding meat and dairy is the number one way to halt climate change. To keep the earth livable and able to sustain us through agriculture, the consumption of beef in the West would have to be reduced by no less than 90 %. In its stead, we are asked to eat five times more beans and legumes.

In their report, The United Nations warns for a global temperature increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius within twelve years, unless we act immediately. Even a temperature rise of half a degree would significantly increase the risks of droughts, floods and extreme heat.

“We should all become flexitarians”

The UN also indicates that reducing meat and dairy consumption is important, but the report finds that just the opposite seems to be happening: the growing population is consuming more meat, especially in developing nations where other meat kinds are being discovered besides chicken. By 2050 some 2.3 billion people are expected to be added to the world population and worldwide income will have tripled by then, allowing more people to eat lots of meat.

If we continue like this, we will exhaust the planet, according to the research team in Nature . If we want to feed all ten billion mouths, we should all become ‘flexitarians’: this means that the average world citizen will have to do with 75 % less beef, 90 % less pork and half the amount of eggs, while eating three times as many beans and legumes and four times as many nuts and seeds. The report says that citizens of rich countries should reduce beef consumption by 90 % and milk by 60 %. Simultaneously, they should increase the consumption of beans and legumes by 400 % and 600 %. On the other hand, the millions of underfed people in poor countries actually ought to eat more meat and dairy products.

Agriculture needs to change

Meanwhile, agriculture itself needs to undergo drastic change. To stop deforestation, water shortage and pollution through overfertilization, we need far-reaching adjustments to our agricultural methods. These include increased crops in poorer countries, more universal water storage and much more careful use of fertilizer. “I was surprised to see that we need a combination of highly ambitious options,” says professor Johan Rockström of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in The Guardian: “We really have to push to the limits of what’s possible. Either the food industry becomes greener or we eat the planet: that’s what’s on the menu today.”

Reducing meat consumption can be achieved through a combination of education, taxes, subsidies for plant-based nutrition and changes in the menus in schools and workplaces, according to the scientists.