Carbon opportunity cost increases carbon footprint advantage of grain-finished beef.

ABSTRACT: Beef production accounts for the largest share of global livestock greenhouse gas emissions and is an important target for climate mitigation efforts. Most life-cycle assessments comparing the carbon footprint of beef production systems have been limited to production emissions. None also consider potential carbon sequestration due to grazing and alternate uses of land used for production. We assess the carbon footprint of 100 beef production systems in 16 countries, including production emissions, soil carbon sequestration from grazing, and carbon opportunity cost-the potential carbon sequestration that could occur on land if it were not used for production. We conduct a pairwise comparison of pasture-finished operations in which cattle almost exclusively consume grasses and forage, and g

SUBMITTER: Blaustein-Rejto D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10718409 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature