Denmark is the host the COP15, and the government is eager to show how we are fighting climate change.

Several aspects are therefore to be considered. Take meat for example - we are one of the most meat-eating people in the world, eating even more than Americans and the Spanish.

Is that a problem, or just our cultural eating habit?

Quite obviously it’s the former.

But only a tiny light has been cast upon food production and consummation and the influence it has on climate change.

In fact it is no underestimation to state that food is an underrated, underexposed subject in the climate debate even though the emissions that derive from it sum up to more than transportation and between a third and a fourth of the total effect on the climate.

Thus being forgotten as a subject, the Danish Council of Ethics and the Danish Council of Consumers had arranged a debate meeting in the Danish Parliament. Present were organizations, journalists (including mysef), scientists and representatives from the industry.

The target of the meeting was to enlighten all participants by presenting numbers, facts, thoughts, and possible solutions.

Meat - why bother?

One just has to gaze upon the report “Livestocks long shadow” from FAO to realize the severe problems that follow in the wake of livestock:

“The total area occupied by grazing is equivalent to 26 percent of the ice-free terrestrial surface of the planet. The area dedicated to feedcrop production amounts to 33 percent of the total arable land, livestock production account for 70 percent of all agricultural land and 30 percent of the land surface of the planet. 70 percent of previous forested land in the Amazon is occupied by pastures.”

Methane primarily comes from the livestock digestion and manure. Nitrous oxide come from processes in the ground. On top of that comes the energy used in processing, transportation, cooling, and heating. And then there is the deforestation responsible for huge CO2-emissions.

Global emissions from livestock is estimated to be around 18 percent of total emissions, without counting the contribution from deforestation, manure, and machines used in the primary production. If you count that in it sums up to emissions equivalent to 17-32 percent, according to a Danish scientist.

Even if you do not count the above mentioned in, being a fifth even though it is both paradoxical and alarming, that compared to energy, construction and transportation, the area has so little focus.

Heavy Danes - every Dane is equal 13.4 tons of CO2

As danes we are on top in the EU-list of emitters of CO2 and every Danish person has a footprint of approximately 13. 4 tons, when we include the emissions related to our consumption that we are responsible for abroad. Food production is responsible for a third of that amount. The average Dane´s emission from the consumption of food is 3.5 ton.

In Denmark the agriculture is intense. The cultivated land held up against the population reveals us to be amongst the most intensively cultivated countries in the world.

Therefore, it is no surprise that approximately 18 percent of the Danish emissions come from farming and livestock. We are a big pig producing country and are also responsible for a great part of the death zones in the Baltic Sea. Having a great number of pigs it is not wrong also to say that Denmark in a certain way is leasing land that used to be rainforest in Brazil and Argentina, as this is where we get the soy to feed our animals.

Consume or waste

Just to underline how we handle food in Denmark: We throw away between 1/5 and 1/4 of our food. That’s mostly meat and dairies.

Why?

Because we are too rich? Because we are spoiled? Because we never experienced scarcity like our grandparents did during World War II, and therefore are used to everything being available at all times?

Go global

Though Danes already consume unsustainable amounts of beef and other types of meat, Indians, Chinese and many other populations are on the road to increase their consumption of meat. In many countries the need for beef and other types of meat is ever rising. Consumption if it continues as now will mean that the livestock production will be doubled in 2050 - which FAO states will be a catastrophe for the world.

Solutions

Is ecological production a solution? Yes, when it comes to the use of pesticides, biodiversity and animal welfare. But not so much when it comes to climate change. The emissions from organic production of vegetables or meat has approximately the same emissions due to the lower yields. The solution is and must be: Less meat.

If we quit eating meat especially beef we can lower the emissions related to livestock by more than a factor 10, studies from Stockholm shows. The university in the Swedish capital has made calculations on the emissions from various types of food that underline the above mentioned.

Politics?

So why is diet change not on the climate policy agenda?

Lack of knowledge perhaps or because this e legislation would interfere with the free market?

Is information enough or do we need a meat tax?

In Denmark the politicians lack the will to make legislation , taxes or take other steps that could affect our meat consumption. Food choices are considered individual. But they seem to have forgotten that a lot of other legislation also affect the personal individual choice. Since Danish consumers select food after price and not quality or other parameters, legislation would be an approach that could make changes.

But the Danish right-wing government wants actions to arise from consumers, and so do the supermarkets. “If the consumers don’t want it, we don’t do it”, they state. And comparing the effort from supermarkets in many other countries with the ones coming from the Danish supermarkets leaves a lot to wish.

Therefore, for now it seems that there is a great deal that is up to us as consumers.

The inevitable

So until the government take action we must stop or decrease our meat (especially beef) consumption and decrease our consumption of dairies

Secondly we must buy seasonal foods and select food and especially fruit and vegetables that has not been air freighted

Since the footprint of food that comes from transportation primarily comes from the transportation made by consumers we must go rarely or use our feet, bicycle or public transportation

And to some extend we must when possible buy local food, and focus primarily on seasonal fruit and vegetables.

And we must stop throwing food away and consume all that we buy.

The positive thing is that being more climate friendly in your food choices goes hand in hand with dietary advices- and they are to be taken into account considering the one billion overweight people on earth.

Putting an end to wasting food also makes sense in a world where nine million people die of hunger and hunger related diseases every year.