Cattle, Cleared Forests, and Climate Change

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) found that none of the 13 evaluated consumer goods companies can guarantee their beef is deforestation-free. While some companies like Mars, McDonald's, and Walmart show more progress, most lack comprehensive policies, transparency, and traceability for indirect supplying ranches. The report highlights that beef production is the primary driver of tropical deforestation in South America, contributing significantly to global carbon emissions and biodiversity loss.

• Beef production is the primary global driver of tropical deforestation, and in South America, it was responsible for 71 percent of total deforestation between 1990 and 2005.
• Tropical deforestation contributes approximately 10 percent of annual global carbon dioxide emissions.
• None of the 13 companies scored by UCS can guarantee their beef is truly deforestation-free, as all lack sufficient policies and practices to ensure beef is not sourced from ranches associated with recent deforestation.
• A critical gap in the beef supply chain is the lack of monitoring for indirect supplying ranches; most meatpackers only monitor direct supplying ranches, allowing deforestation-risk beef to enter the chain.
• Many corporate commitments focus exclusively on the Brazilian Amazon, leaving other critical ecosystems like the Cerrado and Chaco vulnerable to high rates of clearance for pastureland.
• The beef industry in Brazil is linked to human rights abuses, specifically conditions analogous to slave labor, more than any other industry in the country.
• Improving management and productivity on existing Brazilian pastureland could potentially meet demand for meat, crops, wood products, and biofuels until at least 2040, reducing the need for forest expansion.

APA

Anair, D., & Mahmassani, A. (2016). Cattle, Cleared Forests, and Climate Change. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2016/09/ucs-cattle-cleared-forests-climate-change-2016.pdf

Chicago

Anair, Don, and Amine Mahmassani. Cattle, Cleared Forests, and Climate Change. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2016. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2016/09/ucs-cattle-cleared-forests-climate-change-2016.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Anair |first1=Don |last2=Mahmassani |first2=Amine |title=Cattle, Cleared Forests, and Climate Change |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=September 2016 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2016/09/ucs-cattle-cleared-forests-climate-change-2016.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{anair2016cattle, author = {Anair, Don and Mahmassani, Amine}, title = {{Cattle, Cleared Forests, and Climate Change}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2016}, month = sep, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2016/09/ucs-cattle-cleared-forests-climate-change-2016.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }