Weeding out Food's Emissions

Show Notes

This Week’s Reason for Hope

Columbia planning to move away from oil production

Columbian president Gustavo Petro

“The opinion of power has ordered that cocaine is poison,” he said. “But instead, coal and oil must be protected, even when it can extinguish all humanity.”

Oil money accounts for ~ 20% of government income and nearly 10% of its gross domestic product

Colombia already generates ~80% of its energy from renewable sources, mainly hydropower

‍Sources

In Colombia, Drilling Pays the Bills. The Country’s Leaders Want to Quit Oil. - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

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Food System Emissions and Solutions

Summary

Generating food accounts for 15 – 25% of greenhouse gas emissions depending on whether you include direct and indirect impacts

Future food emissions

70% food production increase by 2050 vs. 2009
Potential scenarios
No action => ~60% increase in GHG
Ambitious action => ~5% increase

Agricultural emissions by

End product

Animal-based food (meat, dairy) – 60%
Plant-based food – 30%
Non-food uses (cotton, rubber) – 10%

Primary Sources

Land use change (38%) – deforestation, etc
Farmland (29%) – soil disturbance, fertilizer (N2O), burning residues
Direct livestock emissions (20%) - Enteric fermentation, manure

‍Sources

‍Global greenhouse gas emissions from animal-based foods are twice those of plant-based foods | Nature Food

Emissions by sector - Our World in Data

5 Questions About Agricultural Emissions, Answered | World Resources Institute (wri.org)

Food production is responsible for one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions - Our World in Data

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‍Livestock

Emissions from livestock account for ~ 14.5% of total greenhouse gas emissions globally and ~2/3 of those emissions come from cattle

Five largest meat and dairy corporations combined (JBS, Tyson, Cargill, Dairy Farmers of America and Fonterra) are responsible for annual greenhouse gas emissions of an estimated 578.3 Mt – more than major oil companies such as ExxonMobil (577 Mt), Shell (508 Mt) or BP (448 Mt)

Recent research shows a 46% reduction in net GHG emissions per unit of beef can be achieved when using carbon sequestration management strategies on grazed lands, including