February 4, 2010

Australian red meat emits minimal carbon

A three-year study undertaken by the University of New South Wales revealed that carbon emissions from Australia's red meat production were amongst the lowest in the world.

The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study is conducted across three production systems in Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia.

The research found that eating red meat three times per week results in between 164kg to 258kg of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per year, vastly different to figures quoted that claim up to 1.5 tonnes. The university's LCA also showed that beef values ranged from eight to 11 kg CO2-e per kg HSCW (unit of product used for red meat).

Meat & Livestock Australia's (MLA) Managing Director, David Palmer said these figures will enable a more meaningful discussion on the industry's environmental impact.

The LCA process is a form of cradle-to-grave analysis that attempts to quantify the important environmental impacts of all processes involved in a production system; however it does not take into consideration the ability of soil and trees on farms to absorb carbon. A recent report released by the Queensland Government looked at the total carbon balance on grazing lands in Queensland and found they were close to carbon neutral and may in the near future be a net carbon sink. Queensland accounts for 47% of Australia's cattle production.
 

The FAO also released a report earlier this month that found grazing lands have the potential to help minimise net greenhouse gas emissions through specific practices, especially those that build soil and biomass carbon.
 

David Palmer said that the LCA figures could provide the industry a baseline from which to continue to improve the performance in reducing emissions.