Meat is at the center of interrelated environmental and public health crises: climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation, pandemics, food insecurity, unhealthy and unsustainable diets, and institutionalized animal suffering. While eating or not eating meat has traditionally been seen as a private choice, it is increasingly becoming a public and political issue, as the social, ecological, and ethical costs of industrialized meat production are becoming more visible and prominent. Scientific evidence is piling indicating the need for a sustainable food system and dietary transitions away from animal-based foods.
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Meat as the Next Frontier in Global Climate Change Policy – EJIL: Talk! – Go Health Pro
In November 2024, deep in the corridors of the climate change COP 29 in Baku, the True Animal Protein Price (TAPP) Coalition worked tirelessly to collect signatures on a document that many observers may have considered quixotic. The document called on states to commit to ‘transitioning away from animal protein overconsumption’ through implementing greenhouse gas emission pricing in agri-food systems.
States had little interest in committing to such a transition. When they spoke of ‘transitioning away’, they meant fossil fuels, not meat. The closing document of the 2023 COP had called on states to contribute to ‘Transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems’ to achieve net zero by 2050. In Baku, states were bogged down in discussions about whether or not to reaffirm this ambition. For most states, the proposal to transition away from fossil fuels and animal protein was over the top.
