Climate change mitigation through livestock system transitions

TLDR

The livestock sector is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions while also providing essential nutrition and livelihoods for millions of poor people. The paper argues that climate mitigation policies involving livestock must be designed with extreme care. The authors show that exploiting the heterogeneity of livestock systems—such as shifting from extensive to more productive models—can substantially reduce GHG emissions and enhance food availability, and that the most effective policies target land‑use‑change emissions at the supply side to minimize economic and social costs.

Abstract

Significance The livestock sector contributes significantly to global warming through greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. At the same time, livestock is an invaluable source of nutrition and livelihood for millions of poor people. Therefore, climate mitigation policies involving livestock must be designed with extreme care. Here we demonstrate the large mitigation potential inherent in the heterogeneity of livestock production systems. We find that even within existing systems, autonomous transitions from extensive to more productive systems would decrease GHG emissions and improve food availability. Most effective climate policies involving livestock would be those targeting emissions from land-use change. To minimize the economic and social cost, policies should target emissions at their source—on the supply side—rather than on the demand side.