How far towards the Paris goals would moving away from meat and dairy take us?

Reducing food waste and reducing emissions from meat and dairy are not enough to reach the Paris Agreement. Changing diets to alternative sources of protein is essential, beneficial for health, and needs to be strongly promoted by governance mechanisms.

The meat and dairy supply chains are responsible for 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union. The most important activities causing these emissions are enteric fermentation from ruminants, particularly emitted by beef cattle (35%) and dairy cattle (32%), as well as manure management and feed production. To reduce these emissions, there are initiatives focusing on reducing food waste and decarbonising emission sources, but changing diets is essential for reaching the Paris Agreement.

Moving away from animal products by radically shifting diets could reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by a quarter. Alternative protein products generally have lower carbon footprints compared to meat and dairy, but a more general shift can also benefit health and help to achieve other Sustainable Development Goals, as shown by the findings of the EAT-Lancet Commission. In their proposed diet, consumption of foods such as red meat and sugar is reduced by more than 50% globally, while consumption of fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes doubles.

In Europe, halving the consumption of beef and dairy products would not only lead to a drastic cut in greenhouse gas emissions (by around 15-40% of total agricultural emissions) but would also reduce the need for importing soya by about 75% as much less feed is needed. Furthermore, animal husbandry is also responsible for about 80% of global agricultural land use – both directly (for pasture) or indirectly (arable land used for feed), so shifting to a more plant-based diet can also lead to using less land, which can reduce deforestation and provide room for reforestation or bio-energy production. For reaching the Paris Agreement, this could also mean that the measures in other sectors (i.e. energy) can be less drastic, reducing either costs or the need for negative emissions.

There are already highly successful initiatives led by producers, where, for example, dairy products are substituted by oat-based alternatives [see Oatly case study]. Plant-based meat substitutes have also been on the rise in the European Union, driven by consumers and informal governance networks, for example in the Netherlands [see Green Protein Alliance case study]. However, governments have been resisting the introduction of consumption taxes on meat and dairy products, due to barriers erected by international regulatory institutions and uncertainties related to the impact of such tools. Therefore, the promotion of innovative substitutes can constitute an opportunity to surpass these barriers and contribute to the reduction of meat and dairy consumption.