DAVID CAMERON’S green adviser has teamed up with Sir Paul McCartney to launch a celebrity-backed campaign urging people to give up meat for one day a week to help combat climate change.
Greg Barker, the former climate change minister, will launch the campaign, saying the reduction of a person’s carbon footprint is the same as them not driving for a month.
Among the celebrities backing the move are the model Lily Cole, the actor Mark Ruffalo and the designer Stella McCartney.
According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation, livestock is responsible for 14.5% of man-made global greenhouse gas emissions.
An area of the Amazon rainforest equivalent to 93 football pitches is cut down every hour, according to the Brazilian government’s figures. Research shows 80% of this is to make space for livestock.
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Barker came up with the idea for reducing carbon emissions with McCartney while they were waiting for their children outside a school in Sussex that they attend.
The online pledge to “skip meat for one day a week” is to be launched globally and is backed by charities worldwide, including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the WWF, They will be asking their supporters to sign up.
The campaign will be showcased at the UN climate summit in New York on September 23, which Barker will attend along with foreign environment ministers.
Barker said: “By pledging to give up meat just one day a week, if enough of us come together ahead of the climate summit we can not only send a powerful message to leaders from around the globe, but also make a surprisingly meaningful impact on CO2 emissions.”
Beef production is also responsible for global emissions from transport and the release of methane gas, which has an even more negative impact than carbon dioxide.
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According to the UN, livestock production is responsible for the emission of 2bn tons of CO2, 3bn tons of methane and 2bn tons of nitrous oxide, another greenhouse gas.
Barker will urge the public to eat locally produced meat during the rest of the week to reduce transport emissions and slow the rainforest clearances.
James Wilde, spokesman for the English Beef and Lamb Executive, dismissed the campaign. “The reality is that most people already have at least one day when they don’t eat meat, so calling on people to adjust their diet in this way is unnecessary,” he said.
“The UK is one of the most sustainable places in the world to produce beef and lamb. Grazing animals manage grass land as a carbon sink, taking carbon out of the atmosphere.”