By David Steele and Brian Labatte

The Changing Markets Foundation recently released a new report, The New Merchants of Doubt – How Big Meat and Dairy Distract, Delay, and Derail Climate Action. The report documents a myriad of the ways in which the animal agriculture industry manipulates the public and governments to block efforts to rein in their greenhouse gas emissions, to maintain a positive image of their industry and, of course, to maximize their profits.

Within the report is comprehensive – and very important – information for policy makers and for the general public. Knowledge of the manipulations described in the report will allow us to make far better decisions we make when it comes to our food and our food supply and make us far more aware of the sometimes very serious ramifications of those decisions

In The New Merchants of Doubt, the Changing Markets Foundation adds new depth and detail on industry activities on which others have previously reported: Major meat and dairy companies invest heavily in lobbying and advertising, extensively underwrite research into techniques to manipulate public opinion, and funds dubious ‘scientific’ research designed to falsely discredit high quality academic analyses. They create highly persuasive mass misinformation campaigns and lobby very effectively to obtain major public subsidies and to block or minimize regulation of their activities and of their emissions.

Below, we outline three of the activities covered in the report and provide a bit of context as to their importance. We urge you to read the full report to gain a more complete understanding of the extent to which major meat and dairy companies engage in greenwashing.

1. Methane is not as animal agriculture would have you believe

Among the more egregious industry efforts described in The New Merchants of Doubt is their downplaying of the role of agricultural methane emissions in global warming. Despite methane’s major role in heating the planet, the industry would have us believe that it is of little or no effect. Most disingenuous in this domain is their push for the adoption of metrics like GWP*, which, when applied as industry would have it, would make the enormous emissions from animal agriculture seem like almost nothing at all. 

As IPPC author and Director of the Grantham Institute, Joeri Rogelj, and co-author Carl-Friedrich Schleussner have warned, GWP*, used as the meat and dairy industry proposes, would give major credit to the industry for small reductions in methane releases while penalizing small but increasing emissions from the Global South. 

GWP* can be a useful metric for assessing the global long term effects of transiently present gases on warming, but it is highly inappropriate for assessing the contributions of changes by individual polluters to that warming.

2. Regenerative agriculture is not up to the climate task

Another example of animal agriculture’s blatant use of misinformation outlined in the report is in the championing of regenerative agriculture as a climate solution without clear definitions or any robust scientific backing. Regenerative agriculture, the industry suggests, can offset emissions without reducing livestock numbers. That claim is false.

A plethora of research articles show that, while some carbon is sequestered by these methods, it is dwarfed by that emitted by the grazing cattle. Indeed, one careful review of the evidence indicates that the quantity of atmospheric carbon that can be removed by this method amounts to the equivalent of only about 10% of that emitted by agriculture. Moreover, the ability of the land to absorb carbon saturates over a few decades at most; thereafter, no further carbon is removed. Worse, keeping that carbon in the soil takes work, for soil carbon sequestration is readily reversible. And climate change is exacerbating that reversibility.

Thus, regenerative agriculture is no climate solution. It would be far better, instead, to dramatically reduce the numbers of animals being raised.

3. Industry lobbying is dangerously – and tremendously – effective

One of the prime focuses of The Changing Markets report is on meat and dairy industry lobbying. The report goes into great depth on these efforts and on the political donations that the companies use to influence policy. In both the US and the EU, meat and dairy firms have successfully undermined significant environmental policies. For example, they have obstructed the EU’s Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategy and influenced the US Agriculture Secretary’s policies. The report reveals that companies like Fonterra, Nestlé, and Arla spend significantly more on advertising and greenwashing than on actual low-carbon solutions. Despite promoting technical fixes for emissions, their investments in these areas are minimal and often seek public funding rather than using their own capital.

The Changing Markets Foundation calls for mandatory, science-based emissions targets and a redirection of subsidies from meat and dairy to plant-based alternatives to ensure genuine climate action.

It’s time to act

It is obvious that, for the public good, this industry should be reined in. The New Merchants of Doubt is a strong foundation on which to build a consensus to do just that.

If you need more convincing, we note that – in addition to its outsized contribution to global warming – animal agriculture is the primary driver of biodiversity loss. This short article provides a quick summary of the issue and links to a number of informative reports.