Eating plants and planting forests for the climate

Abstract

The IPCC's Special Report on Climate Change and Land addresses the closely coupled relationship between land use and climate change. The report notes the climate change mitigation potential of dietary shifts and afforestation. Here, we briefly discuss how decreases in ruminant meat consumption associated with dietary shifts have the potential to free up area for forests, allowing for greater CO₂ sequestration and benefiting biodiversity, while simultaneously reducing anthropogenic CO₂ emissions.