Does ‘net zero’ mean zero cows?

ABSTRACT

A significant share of anthropogenic global warming comes from livestock production. There is debate about whether there can be any role for livestock in a climatically sustainable future; the debate is particularly heated for cows and sheep, largely due to the methane they burp out. However, short-lived gases like methane affect climate in a fundamentally different way than long-lived gases like carbon dioxide. Consequently, climate stabilization does not require zeroing-out cattle herds. But this doesn’t mean we can eat our beef and have it (a tolerable climate) too—livestock still contribute to global warming. Preventing or limiting future growth in livestock-related emissions can represent a sensible part of the portfolio of responses to the climate crisis, particularly when carbon dioxide emissions are not on track to reach net zero sufficiently quickly.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change
• livestock
• methane
• net zero
• global warming
• agriculture

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Funding

This article builds on research by the authors originally undertaken as part of a Wellcome Trust LEAP project [award number 205212/Z/16/Z] and continued work on the role of agriculture and land-use in achieving net zero by John Lynch through the Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub, Natural Environment Research Council grant reference: [NE/V013106/1].

Funding

This article builds on research by the authors originally undertaken as part of a Wellcome Trust LEAP project [award number 205212/Z/16/Z] and continued work on the role of agriculture and land-use in achieving net zero by John Lynch through the Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub, Natural Environment Research Council grant reference: [NE/V013106/1].

Additional information

Funding

This article builds on research by the authors originally undertaken as part of a Wellcome Trust LEAP project [award number 205212/Z/16/Z] and continued work on the role of agriculture and land-use in achieving net zero by John Lynch through the Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub, Natural Environment Research Council grant reference: [NE/V013106/1].

Notes on contributors

John Lynch

John Lynch is a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Biology at University of Oxford. He is a member of the Nature Based Solutions Initiative.

Raymond Pierrehumbert

Raymond Pierrehumbert is the Halley Professor of Physics at University of Oxford. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, and was a lead author of the IPCC Third Assessment Report.