Emissions from food system and climate change
The global warming caused by our food system alone will exceed the 1.5C threshold set forth in the Paris Agreement. A recent study examines the emissions from the food system and how they relate to the climate catastrophe.
The study, which was released earlier April 2023, looks at the climate issue, environmental effects of nutrition, and greenhouse gas emissions. The main culprits are meals high in methane, such meat, dairy, and grains.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01605-8
The results show that even if all fossil fuels were destroyed, emissions from these would still cause us to exceed the international target. According to studies, if food emissions keep on their current pace, the planet would warm by 0.7C before the end of the century.
This would exceed 1.5C on top of the 1C rise from pre-industrial levels currently observed.
Concerns with methane
It’s estimated that foods that created a lot of methane account for around 75% of these emissions. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with an estimated warming potential of around 80 times that of carbon dioxide.
But because it also has a significantly shorter half life, reducing it would cause heating to shut down more quickly. The study’s principle investigator, Catherine Ivanovich of Columbia University, said that methane has a particularly significant role in causing the warming related to food systems.
Maintaining the current pattern of food production is incompatible with maintaining the 1.5C temperature barrier. The need to reduce emissions, particularly from the high-methane food categories, is therefore urgent.
According to recent research, livestock is responsible for around a third of the methane produced by humans. These mostly come from cattle, although they can also be found in sheep and other ruminant species.
Since cows belch methane, beef and dairy products are usually regarded as the most ecologically damaging commodities available.
Harvard Medical School recommend diet
The new study claimed that if everyone followed the Harvard Medical School recommended diet, the 0.7C rise could be stopped. It was published in the Journal Nature Climate Change.
Red meat is allowed on this eating plan once a week. According to the study, global warming would only increase by 0.2C if everyone ate this way. This study is only most recent to suggest that wealthy countries must dramatically cut their meat intake to prevent a global warming catastrophe.
According to research from the University of Oxford, Western nations need to reduce their consumption of beef by almost 90%. Additionally it proposed that milk should be reduced by 60%. Another research from 2022 concluded that the recommended weekly meat intake was two hamburgers.
Food production emissions make up more than a third of global total, which contributes around 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions. It means our meat diet especially matters and have the huge impact on climate change exceeding the 1.5C threshold set forth in the Paris Agreement.
Source: Nature
