Our Response to Latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report

Compassion in World Farming Responds to Latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report

• The new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report stresses that to limit warming to 1.5°C, we need immediate greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions in all sectors.
• To meet the Paris targets we need to shift to predominantly plant-based diets that are low in meat and dairy.
• The benefits of moving to diets with only moderate intakes of meat and dairy include reduced land use, reduced environmental pollution, health benefits and reducing death from diet-related non-communicable diseases.
• The report highlights the benefits of new food technologies such as meat produced from animal cells in a lab where no animals are harmed, as well as plant-based alternatives. It says these can bring substantial reductions in direct GHG emissions from food production. It adds that, compared with animal agriculture production, these technologies have lower land, water, and nutrient footprints and address concerns over animal welfare.

Peter Stevenson, Chief Policy Advisor at Compassion in World Farming, said:

“The new report makes it clear that to avoid a climate catastrophe we must move to predominantly plant-based diets that are low in meat and dairy.

“This change would lead to less land being needed to produce food and decrease food-related disease and death. It would also reduce the risks of diseases transmitted from animals to humans, as well as reduce the risk of antibiotic resistance in humans, which comes from giving farm animals too many antibiotics when they are being raised for food.”

To book an interview or for further information contact the Compassion In World Farming Media Team: 01483 521 615 or media.team@ciwf.org