Climate change is developing into the greatest threat ever to our world’s survival. One of the most damaging contributors to climate change is, remarkably enough, conspicuous in its absence from the debate: the livestock industry. In the report The livestock industry and climate – the EU makes bad worse we investigate the impact of the continually increasing consumption of animal products on climate change, and the roll the EU plays. Some hard facts:
- The livestock industry is responsible for approximately 18% of global greenhouse emissions attributable to human activity, which is more than the transport sector’s share.
- Compared to the 1950s, the world’s meat consumption has increased fivefold.
- As much as 88% of deforested surfaces in the Amazon may have been converted to pasture for livestock (Causes of Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon Report, World Bank, 2004).
- Every year the EU subsidizes the production of animal products in agribusiness to the tune of billions of euros.
Here you can download the report in the following languages:
- Croatian – hrvatski
- Czech – Čeština
- Danish – danska
- Dutch – Nederlands
- English
- French – français
- German – Deutsch
- Greek
- Italian – italiano
- Spanish – español
- Swedish – svenska
The livestock industry and climate – EU makes bad worse is written by Jens Holm and Toivo Jokkala.
Jens Holm is a former member of the European Parliament, where he represented the Swedish Left Party. He was a member of the GUE/NGL parliamentary group, and a member of the parliamentary committee on Environment and the parliamentary committee on International Trade. Author of Food, Environment, Justice – The Effects of Meat Consumption on the Environment and the Global Food Supply (Swedish, 2000; Finnish, 2001; English, 2003), Jens Holm was born and raised in Matfors outside Sundsvall, Sweden. He now lives in Stockholm.
Toivo Jokkala is a scholar and writer, PhD student in criminology at Stockholm University. 2005–2008 he was editor of the Animal Rights Sweden magazine Djurens Rätt. 2003–2006 he co-edited Fronesis, the award-winning Swedish journal on social matters. Author of the book Djurrätt och socialism (Lindelöws 2003; with Pelle Strindlund), Toivo grew up in Mjölby, Sweden. He now lives in Stockholm.