Frank Mitloehner explains livestock emissions to US Senate committee
23/05/2019
Dr Mitloehner told the politicians on the committee that while those sectors of the US economy that consume fossil fuels contribute 80% of all of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, the share of all animal agriculture combined is 3.9%. In spite of this, he said livestock farming bore an unfair share of criticism for global warming.
He explained that, of the three main greenhouse gases, methane, which cattle emit, is very different from carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. “Methane has a lifespan of only ten years,” the professor said in response to a question from one of the senators on the committee. “And it is not just emitted; methane is also destroyed by hydroxyl oxidation. A lot of the discussions [about livestock and greenhouse gas emissions] leave this part out and it should not be left out because it’s critical.”
He made it clear that methane is “an important climate pollutant”, one that is almost 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide. But he said that if farmers maintain herds at their current size, there will be no increase in emissions from livestock; all of the methane a herd emits in the coming year will equate to the volume of methane that will be destroyed over that time. “And if we can mitigate methane emissions from cattle herds today, we will reduce global warming.”
Image: IFAS
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