Beef: Greenhouse Gas Emissions

(asked on 7th September 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to page 49 of the report entitled National Food Strategy: The Evidence, published 2021, whether she has made an assessment of trends in the level of the UK's greenhouse gas footprint per kilogram of bovine meat and how this compares to other countries.


Answered by
Mark Spencer Portrait
Mark Spencer
Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 14th September 2023

Emissions from beef production are highly variable both between countries and within countries, reflecting a wide range of production systems. Defra has assessed the best available data, which suggest that emissions from UK beef production range between 16-34 kg CO2-eq per kg meat. These data also suggest that UK beef emissions are roughly equivalent to the rest of the EU, USA, and Australia, but notably less than Brazil or Indonesia. The UK is currently the fourth most efficient of 11 EU producers. Defra is keeping the evidence base on product carbon footprints under review and updating where required.

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