Farm to fork: Conscious eating can cut emissions

Aiming for net zero, the UN's FAO wants people in the rich world to eat less meat. We need to discuss this sticky aspect of climate change without any guilt or stigma slapped onto diets

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As the next Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change approaches, news has emerged that the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization A (FAO) is set to present a plan on emission reduction that will include dietary advice for the rich world, asking its people to curb their meat intake. The average American consumes about 127kg of it annually, although under 16kg is considered healthy and people in some poor countries average less than 4kg. As CoP-28 begins in Dubai later this week, a restraint advisory for heavy consumers is likely to be part of an FAO roadmap for the global agrifood industry to align itself with the Paris pact's goal of keeping our planet no warmer than 1.5° Celsius above its pre-industrial level. The FAO has said that about 14% of all greenhouse gas emissions on account of human activity come from meat and dairy production. That's quite a chunk. As it involves people's diets, discussion of it has been sparse. But no major source of emissions can be left out in the race to arrest g