Greenhouse gas emissions in US beef production can be reduced by up to 30% with the adoption of selected mitigation measures

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from beef production in the United States are unevenly distributed across the supply chain and production regions, complicating where and how to reduce emissions most effectively. Using spatially explicit life cycle assessment methods, we quantify the baseline GHG emissions and mitigation opportunities of 42 practices spanning the supply chain from crop and livestock production to processing. We find that the potential to reduce GHGs across the beef sector ranges up to 30% (20 million tonnes CO₂e reduced and 58 million tonnes CO₂ sequestered each year relative to the baseline) under ubiquitous adoption assumptions, largely driven by opportunities in the grazing stage. Opportunities to reduce GHGs in the feed, grazing and feedlot stages vary across regions, yet large-scale adoption across the entire beef supply chain is important. These findings reveal promising locations and practices to invest in to advance mitigation goals and an upper-end theoretical potential for mitigation in the beef industry.

Rylie E. O. Pelton, Clare E. Kazanski, Shamitha Keerthi, Kelly A. Racette, Sasha Gennet, Nathaniel Springer, Eugene Yacobson, Michael Wironen, Deepak Ray, Kris Johnson, Jennifer Schmitt