The fifteen largest meat companies produce as much methane as the European Union

stronger than carbon dioxide, Methane emitted from manure, and also during the stage of digestion of ruminants, is a major greenhouse gas.. If it has a lifetime in the atmosphere of about twelve years, this gas is responsible for 25% of the warming since the pre-industrial era.

At the last COP 27, a commitment was made to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030. In 2021, the topic was already on the table at this UN meeting since a “global agreement on methane” was signed by 103 countries in the start . According to estimates by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Emissions must be reduced by 45% by 2030 With the hope of limiting the temperature rise by 0.3°C in 2040, and even by 0.8°C at the end of the century.

Massive methane emissions

However, according to the findings of a report by the Institute of Agriculture and Trade policy and the institution of changing markets, efforts should not be made only by states. Five major meat companies and ten multinational dairy companies have a methane footprint exceeding that of Australia, Russia or Canada.

If we consider only methane emissions from the activity of the world’s meat-producing juggernaut, the American multinational corporation JBS known for its giant slaughterhouses in Chicago, it exceeds methane emissions from livestock in France, Germany, Canada and New Zealand combined.

In the land of the kiwis specifically, anger is building among farmers who fear the tax on cow farts proposed in the bill. The New Zealand government aims to reduce methane emissions by 20% with this measure.

However, ruminant digestion symptoms are not the only source of methane. Fertilizer also releases it and forms a pollutant when its nitrates and ammonia reach the ground or air.