Impact of Meat Consumption on Climate Change and Solutions for Food Sustainability

This literature review analyzes the impact of meat consumption on climate change and identifies solutions to promote food sustainability. It explores the implications of different solutions, such as policy changes and raising public awareness, and highlights the challenges in implementing these solutions. The review suggests the need for further research on the effectiveness of current policies and the role of convenience food in reducing climate change effects.

Running head: FOOD SUSTAINABILITY
Food sustainability
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

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Introduction:
Developed and developing countries across the world are witness to many signs of
climate change. Apart from environment changes and disturbance in the ecological balance of
nature, high production of meat and consumption of animal based product has been
recognized as a major contributing factor to climate change as it leads to high green house
gas (GHG) emission and energy expenditure (Koerber, Bader & Leitzmann 2017). Hence,
due to such adverse impact of meat consumption on environment and climate, one of the
proposed solution is to motivate the public to reduce eating animal based products and raise
awareness regarding the negative impact of meat consumption on climate changes. However,
there might be several challenges as well barriers to implementing such solutions in actual
setting. The main aim of this literature review is to analyze the impact of meat consumption
on climate change and identify implications of different solutions to resolve the issue and
promote food security in the community.
Literature synthesis:
Past research evidence suggested different solutions to address the issue of meat
consumption and climate change. For example, González, Frostell and Carlsson-Kanyama
(2011) focused on directly evaluating the impact of energy use and green house gas (GHG)
emissions based on different food items consumed. The study evaluated 84 individual food
items based on energy used and GHS emission occurring during refrigerated and non-
refrigerated transport. The key findings from the study were that energy use and emissions
for plant based food was lower compared to animal based food items. Hence, the key
solutions proposed in response to negative impact of animal production and climate change
included engaging in efficient food consumption and developing national and international
policies to shift focus to plant-based food. Reducing condition may lead to protein deficiency.

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However, the author claimed that protein deficiency is linked to not having variety of food
instead of lack of food. Compared to the study by González, Frostell and Carlsson-Kanyama
(2011), which introduced the solution of introducing convenience food item after identifying
increase in GHG emissions, Reynolds et al. (2015) explored the effectiveness of sustainable
diets in reducing GHG emissions. The study was done by explopration of GHG emission
using three different functional units and comparison of portion size. Compared to González,
Frostell and Carlsson-Kanyama (2011), Reynolds et al. (2015) used more rigorous method to
evaluate sustainability of different food items.
By comparing the energy content of 88 commonly consumed food items to their GHG
emissions, the study revealed that red meat had higher per unit energy consumption compared
to other food groups. However, the study Reynolds et al. (2015) revealed that when food
items like fruits and vegetables are consumed in lower portion size, these foods have higher
relative emissions. The relative emission was different for foods consumed in low amount
such as dairy products. However, in contrast to animal based food products, the energy
emissions of plant based food product are found to be low. Hence, based on this finding, the
researcher defined sustainable diet by combining nutritional compositions based on its impact
on the environment. However, the definition is ambiguous which cannot be interpreted easily.
von Koerber, Bader and Leitzmann (2017) gave a much clearer definition by defining
sustainable diets as wholesome diet which includes plant based food items with low
preference for processed foods. Therefore, the choice of functional units is an area that should
be reported in future studies to further develop the idea of convenience food and its role in
reducing climate change related affects.

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Another research literature is significant as it highlights the challenges when going
with the proposed solution of changing people’s dietary choices and reducing meat
consumption. The work by Macdiarmid, Douglas and Campbell (2016) investigated about the
public awareness regarding impact of dietary habits on environment and their interntion to
reduce consumption of meat. Through focus groups and individual interviews with adults
from different socio-economic groups, the study reported three themes of lack of awareness
regarding link between meat consumption and climate change, perception of minimal role of
meat consumption on climate change and poor willingness to reduce meat consumption. This
study exemplifies meat consumption to be linked with strong personal and social values. The
research by Graça, Calheiros and Oliveira (2014) supports similar attitudes for people in
other regions too as this study also revealed no intention of the public to avoid eating mood.
Another significant finding by Macdiarmid, Douglas and Campbell (2016) is that the
perception regarding willingness to meat consumption was the same for people across
different socio-economic group, thus suggesting this as a population wide issue. The study
gives the implication to develop more realistic health policies that delivers dietary message to
public using a staged approach. This suggestion proposed is also similar to that of the study
by González, Frostell and Carlsson-Kanyama (2011).
The research work by Stehfest et al. (2008) gave the insight that dietary changes can
not only have positive effect on human health and global land use, instead it can have
important policy implications while developing climate change mitigation policies. To
establish this through research, an integrated assessment model was used to find out the
impact of dietary changes on achieving climate stabilization levels. The study used four
variants of reference scenario to evaluate the impact of dietary transitions. The main
conclusion based on the results obtained was that transition to lower amount of meat
consumption or switching to plant based diet was associated with highest effect on land use.

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For example, such transition would lead to abandonment of cropland thus reducing methane
and nitrous oxide production significantly. Hence, the findings give the implication that if
global transition to a low-meat diet actually takes place, it would lead to significant CO2
equilibrium. Therefore, the study by González, Frostell and Carlsson-Kanyama (2011) and
Stehfest et al. (2008) further confirms that eating animal based food product is harmful.
However, Stehfest et al. (2008) vision of achieving a global transition of low-meat diet can be
very challenging to achieve in reality because people value food choice as a very person
elements which cannot be easily changed based on these scientific evidence. In view of this
challenge, exploring the people’s perception and opinion about reducing meat consumption
for a better environment is needed.
The contribution of Laestadius et al. (2013) in relation to the research aim is that it
proposed the solution of involving non-governmental organization (NGOs) to increase
public awareness about impact on different food items on climate. The difference between the
work of Macdiarmid, Douglas and Campbell (2016) and Laestadius et al. (2013) is that the
former focused on direct evaluation of public’s readiness to reduce meat consumption,
however Laestadius et al. (2013) aimed to investigate how non-governmental organization
can play a role in changing publics opinion about food choices. Based on the nature of
research question, quantitative approach was used by Laestadius et al. (2013) and this is most
appropriate to explore perspective of the sample population group. By using descriptive
qualitative approach, the study analyzed NGO actions related to meat consumption and
climate change by conducting interviews with NGO staffs. In addition, outreach material and
websites of different NGOs were also analyzed thus enhancing the validity and reliability of
the research findings. The main findings from the study were that participants acknowledge
the influence of meat consumption and production on climate change. In addition, the
common efforts from their side to decrease the consumption of meats included engaging in

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public awareness and education through websites and public campaigns in the community.
However, one major drawback in response was no policy related effort was seen. This
suggests the need for government and engagement of important health organization to focus
in implementing bold policies to at least reduce the consumption of meat.
The research study by Altermatt (2010) is a unique study that linked changed in
phenology with climate change. Unlike other studies which were done with human
participant group, this study had subjects like butterflies and moths. The main aim of the
research was to explore the effect of environmental factors and species traits on
phenomenological changes and identify the effects of Lepidoptera on the ecosystem. By
utilizing a 150 year dataset, the study revealed that phonological changes were related to
interactions like diet composition and larval diet breath. This demonstrated that phonological
changes are linked to palatability of food plants. Hence, shifting diet can compensate for
phonological changes.
Gap:
The analysis of different research studies linked to solutions to reduce impact of meat
consumption on climate change gave diverse findings. The literature review gave different
solutions to address the issue which include policy related changes, raising public awareness
about the impact of different food items on environment and increasing the role of NGOs in
reaching to people across the community and develop their interest in sustainable diet. The
study design ranged from quantitative studies to longitudinal research design to qualitative
studies. However, some of the studies left behind gaps in the topic area too. For example, the
study clearly highlighted that no policy related actions have been taken to reduce meat
consumption. The limitation of this finding is that the study was done in 2013 and there is a
possibility that by this time, many related actions might have already been taken. Hence, the

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approach that is needed is to conduct future research includes investigating the effectiveness
of current policy in changing people’s intention to reduce meat consumption and consume a
well-balanced meal.
Conclusion:
From the literature review on climate change and meat consumption, it can be
concluded that meat consumption and the time associated with storage and transfer of such
product and maintaining pasture is associated with increased GHG emission. It indicated
policy related changes and increase public knowledge regarding negative impact of food
consumption as some major solutions to mitigate negative effect on climate. The study
however indicates various challenges in changing attitude towards meat consumption such as
resistance to diet changes and poor intention to reduce meat consumption was found from
research studies. The literature review indicated poor efforts to change perception and
promote use of sustainable diet among public. This gives the implication to conduct future
research to find out current policies implemented with an effort to reduce meat consumption
and reduce effect on climate. The study gives the implications to food industry and
manufacturers to introduce convenience food items with minimal environmental impact.

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References:
Altermatt, F. (2010). Tell me what you eat and I’ll tell you when you fly: diet can predict
phenological changes in response to climate change. Ecology Letters, 13(12), 1475-
1484.
González, A. D., Frostell, B., & Carlsson-Kanyama, A. (2011). Protein efficiency per unit
energy and per unit greenhouse gas emissions: potential contribution of diet choices to
climate change mitigation. Food policy, 36(5), 562-570.
Graça, J., Calheiros, M. M., & Oliveira, A. (2014). Moral disengagement in harmful but
cherished food practices? An exploration into the case of meat. Journal of
agricultural and environmental ethics, 27(5), 749-765.
Laestadius, L. I., Neff, R. A., Barry, C. L., & Frattaroli, S. (2013). Meat consumption and
climate change: the role of non-governmental organizations. Climatic change, 120(1-
2), 25-38.
Macdiarmid, J. I., Douglas, F., & Campbell, J. (2016). Eating like there's no tomorrow:
Public awareness of the environmental impact of food and reluctance to eat less meat
as part of a sustainable diet. Appetite, 96, 487-493.
Reynolds, C. J., Macdiarmid, J. I., Whybrow, S., Horgan, G., & Kyle, J. (2015). Greenhouse
gas emissions associated with sustainable diets in relation to climate change and
health. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 74(OCE5).
Stehfest, E., Bouwman, L., Van Vuuren, D. P., Den Elzen, M. G., Eickhout, B., & Kabat, P.
(2009). Climate benefits of changing diet. Climatic change, 95(1-2), 83-102.

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von Koerber, K., Bader, N., & Leitzmann, C. (2017). Wholesome nutrition: an example for a
sustainable diet. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 76(1), 34-41.