China&rsquo;s new dietary guidelines could cut carbon emissions

US environmental communications group, Climate Nexus, has stated that new dietary guidelines issued last month by the Chinese Government could significantly reduce carbon emissions from livestock. Referring to an upcoming report from wildlife campaign group, WildAid, ClimateNexus reveals that Chinese authorities are calling on citizens to consume less meat. The new guidelines, which were issued as part of a campaign against obesity, refer only to health, not emissions. However, if China’s 1.3bn population was to follow the advice and consume just 200g of meat and eggs per day, rather than increasing their meat consumption as anticipated, this could prevent the equivalent of 1.5% of global emissions from entering the atmosphere.

A vendor checks on her pork meat at a market in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Reuters

Nobody in the United States paid much attention when the Chinese government released new dietary guidelines earlier this month.

But hidden within them is a provision that could slash carbon emissions from livestock, according to the group Climate Nexus citing a forthcoming report from WildAid.

China is saying something simple and straightforward, something that the US government has never been able to bring itself to say: Eat less meat.

If 1.3 billion Chinese people follow the guidelines and eat just 200 grams of meat and eggs a day — instead of increasing their meat consumption as expected — it would prevent a lot of greenhouse gas from entering the atmosphere. And when we say “a lot” we mean on the order of 1.5 percent of global emissions. That’s like zeroing out Mexico’s carbon emissions every year.

The Chinese dietary guidelines don’t say anything about greenhouse gasses, only about health. The government issued them as part of a campaign against obesity. Even so, in a statement responding to the news, food and climate expert Jonathan Foley underlined the importance of dietary changes.

“Reducing our meat consumption — especially red meat — even a little bit can have profound impacts on the future of the planet,” Foley said.