Mitigating Methane from Food and Agriculture

This report by the Global Climate and Health Alliance examines the sources of methane emissions within food and agriculture systems and outlines the human health co-benefits of mitigation strategies. It advocates for systemic changes to food production and consumption, including the adoption of plant-rich diets and improved agricultural techniques, to reduce global warming and improve public health outcomes.

• The agriculture sector is responsible for approximately 42 percent of anthropogenic methane emissions. Within this sector, livestock enteric fermentation is the largest source, accounting for 29 percent of total anthropogenic methane emissions, while livestock manure contributes 3 percent.
• Rice cultivation contributes between 8 and 10 percent of global methane emissions due to the anaerobic conditions in flooded paddies. However, rice is significantly more land-efficient than beef, requiring approximately 0.76m2 per 1000 kilocalories compared to 119.49m2 for beef.
• Methane mitigation in agriculture offers significant health co-benefits by reducing the precursors of tropospheric ozone and eliminating harmful air pollutants. Reducing crop debris and land clearing burning decreases exposure to black carbon, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like benzene and formaldehyde, and particulate matter, which otherwise exacerbate respiratory conditions and impair children's lung development.
• Transitioning to plant-rich diets in high-income countries can reduce methane emissions and address public health crises such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. A meta-analysis indicated a 29 percent reduction in ischemic heart disease mortality for vegetarians compared to non-vegetarians in the US, UK, Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands.
• Technical solutions for livestock and rice production can significantly lower emissions. For livestock, implementing all technically feasible measures (excluding dietary changes) could reduce US emissions by 30%, or 56 MtCO2e annually. For rice, adopting alternate wetting and drying (AWD) techniques can reduce methane emissions by up to 48 percent and irrigation water use by 30 percent without reducing crop yields.
• Global food systems are characterized by significant inefficiencies and inequities. Approximately 77 percent of global farmland is used for livestock, yet this land provides only 18 percent of food calories and 37 percent of proteins. Furthermore, the largest 1 percent of farms globally control 70 percent of active farmland, while smallholders (farms under two hectares) produce 35 percent of global food using only 12 percent of active farmland.

APA

Vegh-Gaynor, G., Rowland, A., Quintana, A., & Nguyen, L. (2023). Mitigating Methane from Food and Agriculture. Global Climate and Health Alliance. https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/MethaneReport-Ag-FINAL.pdf

Chicago

Vegh-Gaynor, Gabriel, Amy Rowland, Amanda Quintana, and Linh Nguyen. Mitigating Methane from Food and Agriculture. Global Climate and Health Alliance, 2023. https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/MethaneReport-Ag-FINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Vegh-Gaynor |first1=Gabriel |last2=Rowland |first2=Amy |last3=Quintana |first3=Amanda |last4=Nguyen |first4=Linh |title=Mitigating Methane from Food and Agriculture |publisher=Global Climate and Health Alliance |date=August 2023 |url=https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/MethaneReport-Ag-FINAL.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{veghgaynor2023mitigating, author = {Vegh-Gaynor, Gabriel and Rowland, Amy and Quintana, Amanda and Nguyen, Linh}, title = {{Mitigating Methane from Food and Agriculture}}, institution = {Global Climate and Health Alliance}, year = {2023}, month = aug, url = {https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/MethaneReport-Ag-FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }