Changing patterns of meat consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in Australia: Will kangaroo meat make a difference?

Shyama Ratnasiri,Jayatilleke Bandara,George-John Nychas

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0170130

Abstract

The Australian per capita consumption of ruminant meat such as beef and lamb has declined over the last two decades. Over the same period, however, per capita consumption of non-ruminant meat such as chicken and pork has continued to increase. Furthermore, it is now observed that the human consumption of kangaroo meat is on the rise. This study investigates the implications of these changes in meat consumption patterns on Green House Gases (GHGs) emission mitigation in Australia using a Vector Auto Regression (VAR) forecasting approach. Our results suggest that the increase will continue in non-ruminant meat consumption and this will not only offset the decline in ruminant meat consumption, but will also raise the overall per capita meat consumption by approximately 1% annually. The per capita GHGs emissions will likely decrease by approximately 2.3% per annum, due to the inclusion of non-ruminant meat in Australian diets. The GHGs emissions can further be reduced if the average Australian consumer partially replaces ruminant meat with kangaroo meat.

Highlights

Even though reducing Greenhouse gases (GHGs) has been discussed around the globe for more than four decades with international bodies establishing several mitigation protocols as an outcome, the Green House Gases (GHGs) emitted by humans are still increasing every year
This study investigates the implications of these changes in meat consumption patterns on Green House Gases (GHGs) emission mitigation in Australia using a Vector Auto Regression (VAR) forecasting approach
All C variables are related to per capita consumption of different types of meat, all P variables are related to different prices and I is per capita income

Summary

Introduction

Even though reducing Greenhouse gases (GHGs) has been discussed around the globe for more than four decades with international bodies establishing several mitigation protocols as an outcome, the GHGs emitted by humans are still increasing every year. What this suggests is that mitigation efforts so far have not been able to deliver the desired outcome of reducing GHGs. This, in turn poses the question of whether we should be looking to explore avenues that have not been explored before to mitigate GHGs emissions. This study attempts to contribute to this strand of literature by exploring changes in consumer behaviour, essentially dietary changes over time and their potential implications for GHGs emission reduction

Objectives

Results

Conclusion