Don’t Blame the Cow, Man
Climate change requires systemic overhauls, not just dietary shifts — is Denmark leading the way with the first carbon tax on agriculture?
Every day, the media serves up a new villain on our plates: avoid x, shun y, and heaven forbid you eat z. And if you watched (and trusted) the Netflix documentary Cowspiracy, you might be convinced that ditching meat is the silver bullet to end the climate crisis. The film sensationally claims that livestock is responsible for over half of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. But this is pure fiction — the real figure is just under a fifth.
If we axed every food item making headlines, our plates would be empty. Changing our diet won’t miraculously solve climate change. We must stop burning fossil fuels for that. But focusing only on energy and neglecting food won’t cut it either. Because food is indeed one large source of global emissions, accounting for one-quarter to one-third, depending on whether you consider post-retail emissions or not.
Between 2020 and 2100, our existing food production system will emit around 1,360 billion tonnes of greenhouse…
