A report on climate change and land use, drafted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), encourages adopting a plant-based diet to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The report, which is currently being debated in Geneva by the IPCC, argues the current climate crisis cannot be solved only by cutting emissions from transport, factories, and power plants -urging changes in the way food is produced and how land is used.
‘Sustainable diets’
Cutting down on meat consumption to reduce the amount of methane produced was also recommended in the report, which states half of all methane emissions come from cattle and rice fields.
“The consumption of healthy and sustainable diets, such as those based on coarse grains, pulses and vegetables, and nuts and seeds … presents major opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” the report reads.
‘Dangerous tipping points’
According to the Guardian, Bob Ward, Policy Director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, said: “We are now getting very close to some dangerous tipping points in the behavior of the climate.
“But as this latest leaked report of the IPCC’s work reveals, it is going to be very difficult to achieve the cuts we need to make to prevent that happening.”