By Paul Homewood
h/t Paul Kolk
Britain must cut its meat and dairy consumption by up to 50pc to meet the latest net zero targets, the Government’s climate watchdog has said.
The Climate Change Committee said in an ideal scenario, meat and dairy consumption should halve by 2050 and products be substituted with plant-based options.
The proposals are part of new net zero targets that have been recommended to Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary.
In a letter to Mr Miliband, the committee said the Government must cut CO2 emissions by 81pc by 2035 when compared to the benchmark year of 1990. This would amount to a reduction of 200m tonnes from the current level of 384m tonnes.
Piers Forster, the CCC’s chairman, said persuading British consumers to change their diets would play a key role in achieving such massive cuts.
Mr Forster did not specify how the UK could reduce meat eating but options could include reducing subsidies for livestock, taxing meat products and a clampdown by regulators on advertising.
The committee has urged the Government to cut livestock numbers, especially sheep and cattle, because they argue the methane produced by these animals is a key cause of climate change..
The UK has just under 10m cattle and calves plus around 32m sheep and lambs.
David Handley of Farmers for Action, who keeps 500 sheep and 100 cattle on his Monmouthshire farm, said: “The amounts of methane produced by farming are tiny compared with the emissions from transport and other sectors.
“But these rules and regulations are devastating the sector along with the UK’s ability to produce its own food.”
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Do they really think that people are so concerned about Net Zero that they will give up meat?
Of course, we all know that when they say “persuade”, they really mean “compel”.
In their zealotry, they don’t seem to care about the effect their policy will have on the rural economy. In England alone, livestock and dairy farms employ more than 120,000 people, and meat production is valued at £9bn a year, according to DEFRA.
Industry estimates suggest that you can triple the number of employees, when indirect jobs and jobs in the meat processing industry are added in.
Worse still, the rural economy in some parts of the country could be wiped out if livestock and dairy farming is ended. Shops, pubs , garages and other local businesses could not survive such a catastrophe.
To even contemplate such an outcome would be thoroughly reckless. And this is why Piers Forster, climate academic, is totally unfit to be in charge of climate decision making.
And as is ever the case, while we are trying to cut our meat consumption, the rest of the world eats more every year. Our consumption is barely 1% of the world’s.
https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#compare
None of that matters to Piers Forster though. All he cares about is the UK’s Net Zero targets.