In November 2024, deep in the corridors of the climate change COP 29 in Baku, the True Animal Protein Price (TAPP) Coalition worked tirelessly to collect signatures on a document that many observers may have considered quixotic. The document called on states to commit to ‘transitioning away from animal protein overconsumption’ through implementing greenhouse gas emission pricing in agri-food systems. States had little interest in committing to such a transition. When they spoke of ‘transitioning away’, they meant fossil fuels, not meat. The closing document of the 2023 COP had called on states to contribute to ‘Transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems’ to achieve net zero by 2050. In Baku, states were bogged down in discussions about whether or not to reaffirm this ambition. For most states, the proposal to transition away from fossil fuels and animal protein was over the top. The problem of meat overconsumption Nonetheless, there are good reasons for ‘transitioning away’ from overconsumption of animal protein, particularly meat. Leaving aside whether there is overconsumption of meat in the sense that most people eat more meat than they need, there certainly is overconsumption in terms of externalities. The livestock sector contributes approximately 14.5% of global human-caused greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, driven by methane emissions from cows, land-use changes, and feed production. All (increasingly hypothetical) scenarios for keeping the 1.5°C and even the 2.0°C warming targets within reach require significant reductions of such emissions. This is particularly important because methane reductions have a much greater potential for quick wins than reductions of fossil fuels. As methane has a shorter atmospheric lifespan than carbon dioxide, cutting methane emissions can relatively quickly lower atmospheric concentrations and slow global warming. Moreover, reducing meat overconsumption would serve other key global public interests. On 17 December, the Intergovernmental Platform on […]