Eat less meat to save the planet

As food is blamed for greenhouse gases, UN says...

EATING less meat is a ‘major opportunity’ to save the planet from climate change, a stark UN report says.

It said food production now causes more than a third of estimated greenhouse gas emissions.

And meat – in particular beef and lamb – is the worst single food for the environment. Instead, people are urged to eat insects for their protein.

Cutting down on dairy could also help in the fight against global warming, as could tackling the 25 to 30 per cent of food which is thrown away uneaten, wasted or lost.

The report, from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, suggests a string of policies to tackle global warming, including a ‘carbon tax’ on foods like meat.

Reducing demand for such products could enable millions of square miles of farmland to be left or reforested to help soak up carbon emissions.

The report stops short of urging people to become vegan or vegetarian.

But it says healthy, sustainable diets high in fruit and vegetables and low in animal products, present ‘major opportunities’ to cut emissions.

Scientists say ‘flexitarians’ who are not fully vegetarian but do not eat much meat, and ‘climate carnivores’ who replace most red meat and dairy with more environmentally-friendly pork and poultry, can reduce farming emissions.

The report, which took 107 scientists two years to complete, also says eating more insects could have an impact – despite the ‘yuck’ factor of trying crickets and beetles.

Professor Corinne Le Quere, a member of the Committee on Climate Change, said: ‘Rapid action is needed – delay risks serious impacts including desertification, further degradation of land, and potential disruption to the global food supply.’

The report says up to 10 per cent of emissions from food are for products that are never eaten, according to figures from 2010 to 2016.

One study, cited by the IPCC report, suggests a third of emissions caused by food could be prevented by not over-eating.

IPCC scientists say halting waste alone would reduce the global need for cropland by 14 per cent. Experts also said more food in Britain could be made subject to VAT if the products are deemed detrimental to the environment.

Richard George, of Greenpeace UK, said: ‘A drastic drive towards less meat and dairy in our diets is the silver bullet for reducing the impacts of the food system on our health and the health of the planet.’

‘A silver bullet for reducing impact’