Meat and Climate

According to the UN, animal agriculture is responsible for 14-18% of global greenhouse gas emissions—more than all forms of transportation combined.

Sheep and cows emit large amounts of methane—a greenhouse gas 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere—contributing significantly to climate change.

Producing fertilizer for animal feed crops, fuel for trucks transporting animals to slaughter, and electricity to freeze their carcasses also demands massive fossil fuel use, releasing huge amounts of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.

Scientists agree that plant-based foods have a smaller CO2 footprint than animal products, so the easiest way to slow climate change is to eat vegan.

Animal agriculture also has a shocking water footprint. Each meat eater is responsible for roughly 15,000 liters of water use daily. While growing 1 kg of wheat requires about 1,790 liters of water, producing 1 kg of beef needs over five times that amount. That’s enough water to fill 50 bathtubs for just one steak. Raising cows for milk uses 72% more water than producing soy milk.

Most pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals used on animal feed crops end up in the environment through runoff and animal waste, polluting soil and water worldwide, causing land degradation, harming human health and deep-sea life, creating ecological “dead zones” in oceans, and killing wildlife such as fish, bees, and amphibians.

The UN acknowledges animal agriculture as one of the largest contributors to water pollution. Runoff from meat, egg, and dairy farms contaminates rivers with feces, urine, pathogens like E. coli, antibiotics, and other drug residues.

Ammonia gas emitted by Denmark’s cattle, chicken, and pig farms is a lethal air pollutant that threatens human health and can cause premature death.

Animal agriculture claims the largest footprint on Earth. It occupies one-third of the planet’s land surface and accounts for 30% of biodiversity loss. Agriculture is the most cited threat to wild animals and plants, and WWF identifies habitat loss as the top cause of species extinction.

Wild animals are running out of space, and species are disappearing at an alarming rate. Yet humans continue clearing some of Earth’s richest regions—including rainforests in South America—to graze cattle or grow soy for animal feed. Ninety percent of the world’s soy crops go to cows, chickens, sheep, and pigs. By ending animal farming for food, we can stop deforestation, fight the climate crisis, and preserve countless animals’ natural habitats.

Abusing nature can devastate human life. Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, leading biologist Professor Thomas Lovejoy said: “This pandemic is a consequence of our ongoing, excessive interference with nature and the massive illegal trade of wild animals and plants.” Other scientists highlight that deforestation, intensive farming, wildlife exploitation, and uncontrolled agricultural expansion create the “perfect storm” for disease outbreaks from animals.

Fishing vessels are devastating the world’s oceans, leaving them empty, lifeless, and on the brink of ecological collapse. With roughly 90% of fish stocks fully exploited, at this rate there won’t be many fish left in the sea.

A recent report labeled discarded fishing gear as “the most harmful form of ocean waste for animals.” This equipment—known as “ghost gear”—mangles and kills millions of marine animals every year.

Fish farms aren’t sustainable either. Salmon farmers feed their fish three times their weight in wild fish. Farmed fish live crowded, filthy enclosures and suffer parasitic lice, infections, diseases, and debilitating injuries. Conditions on some farms are so horrific that up to 40% of fish die before farmers slaughter them.

The world faces a food shortage that hits the poorest people hardest. Yet factory farms feed animals every year with 760 million tons of grain so humans can eat meat, dairy, and eggs. This is horrendously inefficient: it can take up to 16 kg of grain to produce just 1 kg of meat. The world’s farmed cows consume enough food to meet the calorie needs of 8.7 billion people—more than the entire global population. If grain were used directly to feed people instead of livestock, there would be more than enough food for everyone.