Beef as a climate killer

According to a study by the non-governmental organisation Foodwatch, agricultural businesses in Germany produce just as much carbon dioxide as road traffic. The news magazine Der Spiegel calls for a reduction in beef consumption: "The result [of the study] will put die-hard lovers of braised beef in a panic. Because even if all companies and methods - bio or not - were optimised to reduce their environmental impact, the fact remains that the central way of making agriculture more climate compatible involves a drastic reduction in beef production. ... The price of beef olives will then rise dramatically. ... [And] anyone who believes that buying a rib steak from an health food shop will help climate protection has another thing coming. This becomes obvious when you convert beef production to an equivalent number of kilometres driven in your car. One kilo of bio-fed meat generates the same emissions as driving 113.4 kilometres in a compact car. With conventional feed the equivalent is 70.6 kilometres because production is more intensive. ... However [politicians] only call for what has long been compulsory: not the slightest reduction in beef production."

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