Cut Meat Intake By 25% To Achieve Net Zero, Says Climate Change Committee

Studies have long shown cutting our meat intake is crucial for reducing carbon emissions, but now the Climate Change Committee (CCC) has put a new figure on it. According to its latest official advice to the UK government, people need to eat around 260g less meat each week – the equivalent of two doner kebabs’ worth – in order for the country to meet net zero goals.

Climate Change Committee Outlines Net Zero Roadmap

The CCC has urged the British government to commit to an 87 percent reduction in carbon emissions from 1990 to 2040. To achieve this, the independent advisory body has set out a roadmap, which it says will ensure the UK meets the legally-binding goal of reaching net zero by 2050. 

One third of the emission cuts between now and 2040 need to come from households making low-carbon choices, according to the CCC. The two most impactful things people can do is switching from fossil fuel boilers to heat pumps, and replacing petrol and diesel cars with electric vehicles. 

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But eating less meat and dairy will also play an important – if smaller – role. The advice states that people need to eat 25 percent less meat by 2040 compared with 2019 levels, and reduce dairy by 20 percent. ‘We are absolutely not saying everyone needs to be vegan. But we do expect to see a shift in dietary habits,’ said Emily Nurse, head of net zero at the CCC.

In the CCC’s pathway, these changes will lead sheep and cattle numbers to fall by 27 percent by 2040, freeing up land to plant woodlands and restore peatland.

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The climate impact of meat is huge. Industrial meat is the biggest cause of deforestation globally, which is releasing billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – while simultaneously destroying the Amazon rainforest. Previous research has shown having big meat-eaters cut some of it out of their diet would be like taking eight million cars off the road. This is primarily down to the methane emissions produced by livestock, with beef being the worst contender, followed by lamb. 

However, according to the UK’s Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, the emissions are lower from UK-produced beef, partly because the ‘landscape and climate is perfect for growing grass, with grasslands covering 65 percent of our farmland and 50 percent of total land’.

Emissions will need to be cut in other areas too, says the CCC, including flying. We need to fly less, and the aviation industry must take responsibility for the costs of decarbonising through carbon capture and use of sustainable fuels. This would, of course, push up the costs of flying.