Impacts from agriculture are expected to increase substantially due to population growth increasing consumption of animal products. Unlike fossil fuels, it is difficult to look for alternatives: people have to eat. A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products.

• The food and agriculture sector contributes 10–12% of total global greenhouse-gas emissions, with additional contributions from land use change • Demand for animal source foods is increasing • Achieving a substantial cut in greenhouse-gas emissions will depend on reducing the production of food from livestock and on technological improvements in farming • A reduction in consumption of animal source foods could have great benefits for cardiovascular health

Livestock and Climate Change: What if the key actors in climate change are...cows, pigs, and chickens? The environmental impact of the lifecycle and supply chain of animals raised for food has been vastly underestimated, and in fact accounts for at least half of all human-caused greenhouse gases (GHGs), according to Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang, co-authors of "Livestock and Climate Change".

The foodwatch report on the greenhouse effect of conventional and organic farming in Germany With emissions of 133 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, agriculture is responsible for almost as many greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as the road transport sector. 71% or 94 million tonnes are caused by livestock farming, well over half of which comes from beef and milk production.

The UK’s appetite for livestock products accounts for around 8% of our total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Efforts to reduce these emissions, such as campaigns for consumers to eat less meat, have alienated livestock producers, who are concerned that they are being unfairly targeted, and who have pointed to potential unintended consequences. It is in the public interest to address such concerns and involve producers in shaping this important policy agenda

Brazil is the world’s fourth largest producer of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The majority of emissions come from the clearance and burning of the Amazon rainforest.The cattle sector in the Brazilian Amazon is the largest driver of deforestation in the world, responsible for one in every eight hectares destroyed globally. Efforts to halt global deforestation emissions must tackle this sector.

Greenpeace’s new report Cool Farming details the destructive practices resulting from industrial agriculture and presents workable solutions to help reduce its contribution to climate change:

Reducing global meat consumption would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and cut the costs of climate policy substantially. This is the result of a PBL study published in Climatic Change. Apart from a reduction in methane and N2O emissions, vast agricultural areas would become unused, mostly as a result of reduced cattle grazing, and could take up large amounts of carbon. Shifting worldwide to a healthy low-meat diet would reduce the costs of stabilising greenhouse gases at 450 ppm CO2 eq. by more than 50%.

Transportation as a whole represents only 11% of life-cycle GHG emissions, and final delivery from producer to retail contributes only 4%. Different food groups exhibit a large range in GHG-intensity; on average, red meat is around 150% more GHG-intensive than chicken or fish. Thus, we suggest that dietary shift can be a more effective means of lowering an average household’s food-related climate footprint than “buying local.”

two new reports have examined how farm animals are raised in this country. The report funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts calls the prevailing system industrial farm animal production. The report from the Union of Concerned Scientists prefers the term confined animal feeding operations. No matter what you call it, it adds up to the same thing. Millions of animals are crowded together in inhumane conditions, causing significant environmental threats and unacceptable health risks for workers, their neighbors and all the rest of us

a book review from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future

Factory farms were designed to bring animals to market as quickly and cheaply as possible. Yet they invite a host of environmental,animal welfare, and public health problems. Crowded and unhygienic conditions can sicken farm animals and create the perfect environment for the spread of diseases,including outbreaks of avian flu, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and foot-and-mouth disease. Factory farms also provide ideal conditions for transmission of illness from livestock to people, and epidemiologists warn of a potentially massive outbreak in congested areas near these operations

Prof Barry Brook and Geoff Russell reveal why a family's meat consumption can contribute more to global warming than their four-wheel drive vehicle

This paper examines the economic impact of climate change on livestock production in Kenya. The Ricardian results show that livestock production in Kenya is highly sensitive to climate change and that there is a non-linear relationship between climate change and livestock productivity

According to a new report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalent – 18 percent – than transport. It is also a major source of land and water degradation. Says Henning Steinfeld, Chief of FAO’s Livestock Information and Policy Branch and senior author of the report: “Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems. Urgent action is required to remedy the situation.”