This book sets out the case for considering the wellbeing of animals as part of our responses to pandemics, climate change and other global threats, for example by reducing support for factory farming, deforestation and the wildlife trade.

This report from US think-tank The Breakthrough Institute assesses technologies and management practices that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the US beef sector. It estimates that full adoption of existing mitigation options (as special feed additives, composting manure and particular grazing patterns) by 2030 could reduce US beef emissions by 18%. 

This report from Dutch NGO the Changing Markets Foundation argues that a lack of attention to reducing methane emissions puts the world at greater risk of reaching climate tipping points. It analyses the climate commitments of the 18 countries with the biggest meat and dairy industries, as well as the largest meat and dairy companies worldwide, and finds that neither governments nor corporations are taking sufficient action on cutting methane emissions.

Research programme PASTRES (Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Resilience: Global Lessons from the Margins) has produced this report, which argues that debates around livestock’s climate impacts are distorted by a focus on intensive production systems in rich countries. It argues that these debates ignore the millions of people who depend on relatively low-impact forms of extensive livestock production, and makes suggestions for how to include pastoralists in debates on the future of food.

This report from US public policy think tank Brighter Green discusses industrial-style livestock production in Africa, which, although growing, has not yet reached the scale seen in the United States. Starting from the assumption that industrial livestock production is undesirable, the report sets out how Brighter Green engaged with academics and researchers in sub-Saharan Africa to challenge this agricultural development model.

This paper estimates the total greenhouse gas emissions (CO2, CH4 and N2O) of the global food system and breaks them down into those from plant-based and animal-based foods. It finds that, in 2010, 57% of food system GHG emissions was from the production of animal-based foods, including from livestock feed, 29% was from plant-based foods, and 14% was from other sources (biomass used for purposes other than feed or food). 

This discussion paper from UN Nutrition examines the role that livestock can play in contributing to nutrition, particularly for young children and in low-income settings, and the impacts of livestock on the environment. It aims to go beyond blanket messages about livestock-derived food and instead provide a nuanced overview of how the role of livestock in sustainable healthy diets depends on local context and specific production methods. It concludes that some groups of people - such as those already eating high levels of livestock-derived foods - could improve both health and environmental impacts by reducing their consumption.