Meat and Dairy - Foodrise EU

What's the problem?

Industrial meat and dairy production, including the meat and dairy industry itself, animal feed production and fossil fertiliser, is fuelling climate breakdown, land grabs and deforestation, and human rights abuses, whilst threatening our health and communities – all to protect corporate profits.

A climate disaster on our plates

Producing meat and dairy is one of the biggest drivers of the climate crisis — responsible for 12–20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than any other part of the food system.

Globally, over three-quarters of meat is consumed in high- and upper-middle income countries: in Europe, people eat twice the global average, and livestock alone causes 81-86% of the EU’s agricultural emissions.

Climate scientists overwhelmingly agree on the need to reduce livestock numbers to achieve a safe future within 1.5 degrees of warming – and that needs to go hand in hand with a reduction in overconsumption of meat and dairy in regions like Europe.

It’s not just about emissions

80% of global farmland is used for livestock — cattle grazing and growing soya for animal feed together cause almost half of tropical deforestation globally.

Workers face exploitation in slaughterhouses, while Indigenous communities are pushed off their land.

Factory farms pollute the air and local rivers with manure and toxic chemicals — harming nearby communities.

Animals suffer in overcrowded, industrial conditions.

The overuse of antibiotics in livestock is fuelling antimicrobial resistance — a major public health threat.
Eating too much red and processed meat increases health risks like cancer.

This is not normal — it’s by design

Global meat production has skyrocketed in recent decades – five times more meat was produced in 2021 than in 1961. This staggering surge is no accident. It’s been driven by industrial giants like JBS, Tyson, and Cargill, who dominate global meat and dairy production.

Just like Big Oil, they’ll do anything to protect their profits: greenwashing their environmental destruction, lobbying against plant-based diets, and pushing false techno-fixes like biogas – all to distract from the real solution: cutting meat and dairy production.

81-86%

of the EU's agricultural emissions

are caused by the livestock industry.

83%

of the world’s farmland

is used to produce meat, dairy, eggs and aquaculture.

Our solutions

Ending public support for industrial livestock

We’re taking on the industrial meat and dairy industry by exposing its true costs and demanding accountability. We shine a light on how these corporations greenwash their damage and lobby to protect their profits — all while taxpayers foot the bill.

The subsidy system is rigged in favour of the industrial livestock industry: 82% of EU agricultural subsidies go to livestock and animal feed.

Not only that, the livestock industry is benefiting from public subsidies for biomethane from manure: this is a sticking-plaster solution which greenwashes the livestock industry – using public money to clean up a polluting industry’s waste, against the polluter pay principle.

Deforestation driven by animal feed production

Creating food environments that support healthy and sustainable diets

Right now, our food environments are rigged in favour of meat and dairy. In supermarkets, hospitals, and restaurants, these options are often cheaper, more visible, and heavily advertised — pushing people to consume more than is healthy or sustainable.

We’re campaigning to flip that script. By reforming policies that shape what food is available and promoted, we aim to make plant-based, culturally appropriate wholefoods more affordable, appealing, and widely available — while still preserving freedom of choice.

We work together with the Food Transition Coalition, a large Dutch network of organisations aiming to transform the current broken food system. We participate in a core working group on plant-based protein transition to strategize on lobby and advocacy and to collaborate in projects.