I am not vegan and I never will be. But I can cut down on meat in my diet.
The state of the climate today makes it an imperative that everyone on the planet SHOULD be cutting down on their meat intake.
With the recent droughts and flash foods round the world hitting the headlines, the battle cry for veganism has never been stronger.
Yet it is highly unrealistic to expect Brits or the global population to turn vegan to save the planet. But I think it is completely possible for us to cut down on our meat intake, starting with beef.
Why the focus on beef? That is because beef production generates 10 TIMES more greenhouse gas emissions compared to poultry, farmed fish, or eggs.
TL;DR
Let us understand the numbers:
About 29 million tonnes of CO2e ( 8% ) of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions (or 367 million tonnes of CO2e in total) in 2025 comes from cattle farming (Source:DESNZ) .
Beef production generates the highest percentage of emissions (49kg per 100g of protein) compared to other foods.
To put that into context, that would be equivalent to 11.6 billion cheeseburgers eaten per year or 31.76 million people (nearly 50% of the UK population) having a cheeseburger every single day.
Would it make any difference if we ate more poultry, fish or eggs instead of beef?
The short answer is yes.
Poultry, farmed fish, and eggs generate only about 10% to 25% of the emissions that comes from producing beef.
Turning vegan is too radical for many of us. But cutting out beef from out diet and switching to eating more chicken and eggs is highly realistic.
Switching to a flexitarian (majority plant-based) diet is also eminently possible.
The battle cry should not be stop eating animals. It should be just stop eating beef.
Swee Whitehouse (Proud flexitarian since 1990)
Source:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/provisional-uk-greenhouse-gas-emissions-statistics-2025/2025-uk-greenhouse-gas-emissions-provisional-figures-statistical-release
https://decarb.co/the-carbon-footprint-of-a-cheeseburger-what-the-data-shows/