Serious discussion on climate action must include agriculture and its products – opinion

Any serious discussion on climate action must take into account the agriculture sector and its products, write Ruth Delzeit and Christine Merkin, researchers at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), in a guest commentary in the Frankfurter Rundschau. As global demand for food will increase significantly with a growing population over the coming decades, the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming is in danger. Producers only have limited technical possibilities to reduce emissions, write Delzeit and Merkin, but on the consumer side, reductions could be reached by putting an “adequate” price tag on meat and other products, which reflects the costs incurred by their effect on global warming.
Agricultural emissions make up seven percent of total greenhouse gas emissions in Germany, and must be reduced for the country to reach its goal of carbon neutrality by mid-century, and to comply with the Paris Climate Agreement.