{"id":191429,"date":"2021-08-09T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2021-08-09T11:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=191429"},"modified":"2025-01-10T15:08:36","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T15:08:36","slug":"investigation-how-the-meat-industry-is-climate-washing-its-polluting-business-model","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/08\/investigation-how-the-meat-industry-is-climate-washing-its-polluting-business-model\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigation: How the Meat Industry Is Climate-Washing Its Polluting Business Model"},"content":{"rendered":"

18 Jul 2021 – Growing global meat consumption threatens to derail the Paris Agreement, but that hasn\u2019t stopped the meat industry insisting it is part of the solution to climate change.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\u00a9 Peter Reynolds<\/p><\/div>\n

In February last year, the head of a leading global meat industry body gave a \u201cpep talk\u201d to his colleagues at an Australian agriculture conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a recurring theme that somehow the livestock sector and eating meat is detrimental to the environment, that it is a serious negative in terms of the climate change discussions,\u201d Hsin Huang, Secretary General of the International Meat Secretariat (IMS)<\/a>, told<\/a> his audience. But the sector, he insisted, could be the \u201cheroes in this discussion\u201d if it wanted to.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot continue business as we have done in the past,\u201d he went on. \u201cIf we are not proactive in helping to convince the public and policymakers in particular, who have an impact on our activities \u2013 if we are not successful in convincing them of the benefits that we bring to the table, then we will be relegated to has-beens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huang\u2019s speech points to an industry nervous about its role in a carbon-constrained future. In the face of mounting evidence of the livestock industry\u2019s climate impacts and a growing array of meat alternatives, the sector has developed a multi-pronged PR strategy that seeks to legitimise not only the industry\u2019s current activities but also its plans to scale up production \u2014 despite clear warnings<\/a> from scientists that this could scupper efforts to meet climate targets.<\/p>\n

DeSmog conducted a five-month investigation into the meat industry\u2019s PR and lobbying, reviewing hundreds of documents and statements by companies and trade associations. Our research shows how the industry seeks to portray itself as a climate leader by:<\/p>\n