When it comes why consumers say they favor eating plant-based protein products over meat products like chicken, turkey, beef and pork, the most commonly cited reasons are centered around sustainability and environmental concerns. A view commonly cited is that livestock and poultry production leads to climate change.
However, Sara Place, chief sustainability officer, Elanco Animal Health, said people with that mindset may be well-intentioned, but they are really not making a meaningful difference to the environment through their diets.
“You can’t eat your way out of climate change,” said Place. “You can eat a ribeye steak every day or you can just eat tofu and it’s really not going to scale to anything.”
Place kicked off the Animal Agriculture Alliance 2020 Virtual Stakeholders Summit in earnest on April 30, with the pre-conference webinar, “Where’s the Beef with Sustainability and Plant-Based Alternatives?”
Place acknowledged that livestock production may contribute to climate change, but it is a very small contributor.
Citing a 2017 study from Robin R. White, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and Mary Beth Hall, USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Place pointed out that if every U.S. resident switched to a vegan diet and all livestock in the United States would disappear, we would only see a 2.6% reduction in greenhouse emissions, which is 0.36% of all global emissions.
Place emphasized that she did not want to discourage people from eating plant-based meat, especially if they are doing it for other reasons.
“You do you. If you want to eat different things, I think that’s great,” she said. “But it is cutting to the matter of, ‘Are these alternatives or imitation products more sustainable or what impact does any of this have?’ … Not to disempower people, but it’s not a big driver at the end of the day.”
Place has been Elanco's chief sustainability officer since late 2019. Prior to joining Elanco, she was senior director for Sustainable Beef Production Research for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and an assistant professor for Sustainable Beef Production Systems in the Department of Animal Science at Oklahoma State University.
