80 Climate Change and the Beef Industry: A Rapid Expansion

Abstract

Abstract The beef industry has come under scrutiny in recent decades over its perceived impacts on climate change from both climate scientists and the public. In the United States, only 3.8% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come directly from livestock primarily from enteric methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions (EPA, 2021). While this is a small contribution, relative to other industries, beef cattle are important sources of atmospheric CH4, and mitigation of this gaseous emission has been highlighted as a tool to slow global climate change (Lynch et al., 2021). Unfortunately, there has not been significant investment in practical GHG mitigation solutions outside of continued progress in improvements in efficiency, which result in reduced emissions per unit of meat produced but has not decreased absolute GHG emissions. Recently, there has been an expansion of corporate sustainability programs and since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, significant growth in environmental-social-governance investments which are creating more pressure for companies to act to reduce GHG emissions in their supply chains, referred to as scope 3 GHG emissions. This has spurred many companies in the meat, poultry, and dairy industries to make net-zero climate commitments that will impact producers. To meet these goals public-private partnerships will be crucial to develop strategies that are viable for producers to adopt while simultaneously accounting for regional differences in climate and management. This may include examining the potential for soil carbon sequestration, direct inhibitors of enteric CH4, reducing volatile N loss, and the adoption of GWP. In summary, while climate is the primary sustainability issue for today’s beef producers, we have the potential to be part of the solution while simultaneously improving food security, economic viability of produces, more resilient supply-chains, and the provision of other ecosystem services.