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In the list below, icons of PDFs, Word documents and report covers will, where available, link to the relevant report/information. Links within the text will also link to relevant webpages as well as to PDFs etc.
Added: 07.03.08
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Danish pork production Aarhus University in Denmark has published an environmental assessment of Danish pork production. Here are the main points:
- Danish pork emits around 3.6kg CO2e/kg of carcass weight pork.
- The main environmental impacts occur at the farm stage, before the pig is slaughtered.
- The highest contributions to global warming, eutrophication and acidification arise from production of feed and handling of manure in the pig housing and under storage. However, the manure/slurry applied to the fields also made a significant contribution to eutrophication potential.
- The transport of the pork to the Port of Harwich was not an environmental hot spot and contributed less than 1% of the total amount of greenhouse gasses emitted during the production.
The environmental profile of pork established was based on data from 2005, and it was found,that the environmental impact (global warming, eutrophication and acidification potentials) has been reduced since 1995. These environmental improvements were mainly obtained by lower feed (and protein) consumption and improved handling of manure/slurry. A potential exist for improving the environmental profile further. In particular, the greenhouse gas emission per kg pork can be reduced, if the manure/slurry is anaerobically digested, and the biogas is used for heat and power production.
The environmental impact of Danish pork was compared with the environmental impact of British and Dutch pork. It was found that the global warming potentials were equal, whereas the eutrophication and acidification potential was higher for British pork.
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| Added: 16.01.08 |
Food Ethics Council Business Forum report: meat and dairy production and consumption.
The November 2007 meeting of the Food Ethics Council’s Business Forum discussed what environmental concerns around meat-eating mean for the food sector. A report of the meeting is available on the FEC website here.
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Livestock’s Long Shadow – Environmental Issues and Options, FAO, December 2006 examines in detail the environmental impacts of the global livestock sector. It puts the livestock sector’s contribution to total global greenhouse gas emissions at 18% and argues that the livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to a range of the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global. The paper argues that these problems should be addressed with great urgency and examines a range of technological and policy-oriented mitigation options.
For the press release see here. |
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A Belgian study looks at emissions arising from meat production and consumption in Belgium. See Greenhouse gas emissions reduction and material flows (PDF, 306kb). Final report, IDD - Institut Wallon - VITO, Federal Office for Scientific, Technical and Cultural Affairs, Belgium, 2001.
The study starts by examining trends in consumption of pork, beef and poultry. It then quantifies emissions from these foods, including in its calculations the emissions (CO2 , CH4 and N2O) generated during the production of fertilisers, feed, animal production, slaughtering, processing, packaging, distribution, use and waste treatment. The study concludes that meat consumption accounts for around 4% of Belgium's total GHG emissions. Beef accounts for more than half of these and poultry only 8%. |
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Another meat focused study Subak, Susan, 1999. Global environmental costs of beef production, Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 79-91, 7 compares US intensive meat cattle production with a traditional African pastoral system. The study includes assessment both of major land-use and energy-related emissions. The study concludes that although CO2 emissions are greater with the US feedlot system, the methane intensity of the pastoral mode is much larger than the US one because of the lower productivity of system. Subak finds that when indirect sources, which include emissions from fossil fuels and foregone carbon storage on appropriated land, are considered as well as emissions from enteric fermentation and wastes, the social costs of the feedlot system at 15 kg CO2 equivalent/kg beef are more than double that of the pastoralist system. |
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Another example of meat-focused research is White T (2000) Diet and distribution of environmental impact, Ecological Economics, vol 34 pp 145-153. This points out that 40% of world grain production is currently fed to livestock. At a global level, animal products make up only about 16% of total calories but generate approximately 35% of total environmental impact from agriculture. The study defines environmental impact in terms of land use. |
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Other more detailed academic papers of interest include the following:
Lovett D.K., Shalloo L., Dillon P., O’Mara F.P. (2006) A systems approach to quantify greenhouse gas fluxes from pastoral dairy production as affected by management regime, Agricultural Systems, 88
Helena Elmquist, Environmental Systems Analysis of Arable, Meat and Milk Production, Doctoral Thesis, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, 2005, ISSN 1652-6880, ISBN 91-576-7011-0
Organic vs conventional: I.J.M de Boer. Environmental impact assessment of conventional and organic milk production, Livestock Production Science 80 (2003) 69-77 |
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Gold, M. (2004) The global benefits of eating less meat, Compassion in World Farming Trust, Petersfield, Hampshire. |
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Determining the environmental burdens and resource use in the production of agricultural and horticultural commodities
This Defra-funded report (Defra Projects IS0205) is an LCA of the production of the major agricultural/livestock commodities in the UK. The 10 key commodities studied were bread wheat, potatoes, oilseed rape, tomatoes, beef, pig meat, sheep meat, poultry meat, milk and eggs.
An FCRN summary is available here.
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The Defra-funded Market Transformation Programme has undertaken a study of the UK chicken supply chain. The UK Chicken Supply Chain and Energy Consumption policy brief covers the energy used in chicken meat supply from agricultural supply to consumption in both households and through the catering sector. See www.mtprog.com. |
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