Brazilian Beef Carries Highest Carbon Footprint

STOCKHOLMA new study published in Environmental Science & Technology reveals beef production in Brazil leads to greater carbon emissions than previously thought. The findings also suggest beef from the Brazilian Amazon carries the highest carbon footprint of any beef in the world.

Carbon dioxide emissions in conjunction with deforestation are responsible for 10 percent of all emissions globally. Increasing demand for more feed, biofuel and food, primarily meat, creates a need for more farming land, which leads to deforestation and even greater emissions.

Researchers at the Swedish Institute of Food and Biotechnology estimate beef ranches account for approximately 70 percent of the cleared forest in the Brazilian Amazon and they are calling for a revision of methods for calculating the greenhouse gas emissions of Brazils meat. They noted only 6 percent of Brazilian beef comes from ranches created by deforestation, which means the carbon footprint of Brazilian beef varies enormously based on where it is raised. As a result, just 6 percent of the country's beef accounts for 60 percent of its beef industry's carbon footprint.

"We have calculated in many different ways in the article, and no matter how we do it, we arrive at the conclusion that Brazilian beef is a heavy producer of carbon dioxide," they said. "The snag is that this 6 percent of beef production causes about 25 times more carbon dioxide emissions than beef produced in the rest of Brazil. This means that the average for carbon dioxide emissions caused by beef production in Brazil is twice as high as that in Europe."