Processing and transportation
Animal agriculture is one of the world’s largest industries, and burns fossil fuels throughout the production cycle:
- Machinery, equipment and vehicles when clearing land
- Planting, harvesting and transporting feed crops
- Manufacturing and applying fertilisers and pesticides
- Heating and cooling buildings
- Processing and refrigerating animal products
- Transporting animal products to the consumer
These activities account for 20% of the total 7.1 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emitted by the livestock industry per year.1
REFERENCES
- 1.The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Major cuts of greenhouse gas emissions from livestock within reach. Tackling climate change through livestock. Published 2013. Accessed 2021. http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/197623/icode/