Skip to main content

‘As worrying as Big Oil’ — Big Meat fighting to keep beef on the menu at COP27

#13 of 121 articles from the Special Report: Negotiating survival
Illustration by Ata Ojani

Lobbyists for Canada's meat and dairy industries are showing up with unprecedented visibility at the COP27 climate conference now underway in Egypt. The industries have at least one representative on the official Canadian delegation, a position that gives easy access to negotiators and closed-door meetings, and have embarked on a charm offensive to convince the climate crowd that meat can be a climate solution.

There is growing awareness about the climate impacts of meat and dairy. Raising livestock is responsible for between 16.5 and 28 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and that number is increasing fast. Climate experts agree reversing this trend is vital to meet global climate goals.

A mere 12 nations have singled out livestock in their official commitments to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Only two — Ethiopia and Costa Rica — talk about changing diets to reduce meat and dairy consumption despite calls from environmental and animal rights activists for countries to make the practice commonplace.

Lobbyists for Canada's cattle industry are fighting to prevent more countries, including Canada, from following suit.

"I'm not sure I agree we need to eat less meat," said Bob Lowe, the Canadian vice-president of the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, an industry group that counts major meat companies like McDonald's and Cargill among its members. He will be pushing governments to back a "balanced (agricultural) system" that includes animals as essential to sustaining natural carbon sinks like grasslands.

Lobbyists for Canada's meat and dairy industries are showing up with unprecedented visibility at the COP27 climate conference in Egypt. The sectors have at least one representative on the official Canadian delegation, giving access to negotiators.

Scientists have determined that livestock in moderation can be part of sustainable, small-scale and culturally relevant farming systems, but almost all agree the intensive agricultural methods dominating the global meat industry need to be curbed. Research also suggests that native ruminants like bison have a more beneficial impact on grassland ecosystems than cattle.

Lowe is joined at the conference by four other staff members from the Canadian Cattle Association, an organization that represents Canada's $9.7-billion beef industry. At least one is attending as part of Canada's roughly 335-person official delegation.

According to a provisional list of conference attendees gathered by the United Nations on Nov. 6, Brittany (Lauren) Martin, a lawyer and farm lobbyist, is representing the Canadian Cattle Association as part of Canada's official delegation. As of Nov. 9, Martin was not listed as one of the organization's staff members on its website, despite her social media profile indicating she still works for the organization.

Lowe, who was also the Canadian Cattle Association's past president, on Friday told Canada's National Observer that another staff member, environment and climate change co-ordinator Mitchell Zoratti, was the organization's representative on Canada's official delegation.

One representative from Dairy Farmers of Canada, the country's dairy lobby, was also listed as attending the conference, though it wasn't clear whether she was part of the official delegation. In a statement, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), the ministry responsible for Canada's delegation, said the final list "will only be available near the end of the meeting."

The UN document shows several lobbyists for the industrial meat industry are attending as part of other countries' delegations. Take Brazil, a country where ranching and industrial soy and corn production for animal feed are a leading cause of deforestation: At least three representatives for JBS, the world's largest producer of beef, are listed under the country's official delegation.

The close ties between national delegations and the global meat industry is "as worrying" as the massive presence of fossil fuel lobbyists at COP26 last year, said Shane Moffatt, head of Greenpeace Canada's nature and food campaign. Roughly 507 fossil fuel lobbyists attended last year's event, more than any other industry group or country.

"It has the same kind of potential to actually misdirect the final outcomes of the COP away from what the planet needs and what the science says needs to happen towards outcomes that reflect the industry's short-term interests," he said.

He wants countries to single out industrial meat production as a climate problem of similar scale to fossil fuels. An official acknowledgment like that would in turn influence national emissions-reduction policies to target meat and direct climate funding toward more sustainable solutions.

That seems unlikely in light of the industry's government-sanctioned presence at the conference and "brazen" campaigns to market industrial livestock farming as a solution to biodiversity loss and climate change, he said. In Canada, these efforts have included partnering with environmental organizations — think Nature Conservancy — to promote the industry's role in preserving grasslands, an important carbon sink and a haven for biodiversity.

Emissions from Canada's livestock industry are generally below the global average because it generates less deforestation and uses more efficient technologies than competitors like Brazil, noted University of Ottawa climate expert Ryan Katz-Rosene. Still, the industry's pitch remains "counterfactual" due to growing demand for meat and the high environmental impacts of large-scale meat production, Moffatt said.

The cattle lobby's efforts have paid off. Lowe said his industry has a "good relationship" with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and is "developing" one with ECCC. The sector has been spared from the government's plan to curb methane emissions, even though about a third of those emissions come from farming and they aren't projected to decrease by 2030. In contrast, New Zealand, another livestock powerhouse, recently announced plans to tax on-farm methane emissions.

Pro-meat lobbying has also successfully softened international efforts to tackle food-related emissions, Lowe said. The industry managed to convince countries at last year's controversial UN Food Systems Summit to replace a "complete anti-meat agenda" with one that included continued intensive animal farming. The change was criticized by environmental activists for undermining the summit's goal of promoting sustainable food systems.

Despite the criticism, Lowe said he has no plans to stop his fight to keep beef on the planet's plates. Next month, he will join fellow lobbyists at COP15, the UN biodiversity conference set to take place in Montreal, to counter calls from a "strong anti-meat movement" for Canada to curb his industry.

Not that he's too worried: "We can contribute to the solution, and I believe our federal government is starting to think along exactly those same lines," he said.

Comments

In reply to by Paul Berger

In reply to by Paul Berger