Environmental News Network - Replacing Animal Agriculture and Shifting to a Plant-Based Diet Could Drastically Curb Greenhouse Gas Emissions, According to New Model

Details: By Stanford University; 01.Feb

The worldwide phase out of animal agriculture, combined with a global switch to a plant-based diet, would effectively halt the increase of atmospheric greenhouse gases for 30 years and give humanity more time to end its reliance on fossil fuels, according to a new study by scientists from Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.

Cheryl Porter

The worldwide phase out of animal agriculture, combined with a global switch to a plant-based diet, would effectively halt the increase of atmospheric greenhouse gases for 30 years and give humanity more time to end its reliance on fossil fuels, according to a new study by scientists from Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.

“We wanted to answer a very simple question: What would be the impact of a global phase-out of animal agriculture on atmospheric greenhouse gases and their global-heating impact?” said Patrick Brown, a professor emeritus in the department of biochemistry at Stanford University. Brown co-authored the paper with Michael Eisen, a professor of genetics and development at UC Berkeley.

Based on the model, published in the open-access journal PLoS Climate, phasing out animal agriculture over the next 15 years would have the same effect as a 68 percent reduction of carbon dioxide emissions through the year 2100. This would provide 52 percent of the net emission reductions necessary to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, which scientists say is the minimum threshold required to avert disastrous climate change.

Magazine menu

Replacing Animal Agriculture and Shifting to a Plant-Based Diet Could Drastically Curb Greenhouse Gas Emissions, According to New Model