US beef industry emerges from Biden’s climate pledges ‘relatively unscathed’
The US beef industry has escaped “relatively unscathed” from Joe Biden’s attempts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, according to leaders at the industry’s recent CattleCon convention.
Biden and the EU unveiled a global pledge to cut methane gas 30% by 2030 at November’s Cop26 climate summit – and there is evidence that methane created by cattle production is a significant contributor to climate change.
But those at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) annual trade show in Houston last month heard industry leaders express relief about the administration choosing to incentivize rather than force ranchers and feedlots to reduce emissions.
Mary-Thomas Hart, NCBA’s environmental counsel, told a sustainability forum at the conference how lucky the industry was with the administration’s approach, according to information obtained by Unearthed, Greenpeace’s investigations project, and shared with the Guardian.
“A good example is, during Cop26, the president led a global methane pledge, and that could have gone really badly for livestock production in the United States, could have gone badly for the cattle industry,” Hart told her audience. “But this administration seems to have recognized the positive value we bring. We were really excited to get out of that relatively unscathed.”
Methane, expelled by cows and by their manure, is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Although methane dissipates after 10 to 20 years, it warms the planet at 80 times the rate of carbon dioxide and emissions are accelerating at an unprecedented rate, according to the UN.
Although Biden’s November pledge to reduce methane included new rules for the oil, gas and coal industries, it proposed only voluntary actions for an
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