Artificial Meat Cuts Beef Carbon Footprint Up to 96%

With the debate current about live exports of beef cattle, particularly to Indonesia, such a hot topic I thought you may be interested in what I received from the World Futures Society this morning.  I have also written about this topic in my article 'The Rise and Fall of Growth: The inappropriateness on continuous unchecked growth' which is posted on this site.

"Artificial Meat Cuts Beef Carbon Footprint Up to 96%

Techniques for producing meat without harming animals have been shown to produce fewer greenhouse gases than conventional livestock farming.

A new study from University of Oxford PhD candidate Hanna Tuomisto and her colleagues has shown that artificial or "cured" beef resulted in 78%–96% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and required 82%–96% less water.

Consumption of livestock and particularly beef has been on the rise in recent decades. The United Nations expects demand for livestock-based food to double between 2000 and 2050 as the developing world and countries like China increase meat consumption. In many respects, beef is an unparalleled source of protein, but livestock production currently accounts for 18% of GHGs worldwide, a larger portion than the transportation sector.

"The results show that cultured meat production emits substantially less GHG emissions and requires only a fraction of land and water compared to conventionally produced meat in Europe. Energy requirements of cultured meat production are lower compared to beef, sheep, and pork, but higher compared to poultry," the authors of the study write.

They deduce that an additional $160 million in research and development is needed before a commercialized product can be brought to market. The researchers' findings were published in the Environmental Journal of Science and Technology."

Source: Purchase the paper "Environmental Impacts of Cultured Meat Production" here.