For around ten years, meat consumption by the French has stagnated. A situation that could hamper the country’s ability to achieve its climate goals.
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Halving its meat consumption: this is one of the necessary conditions for France to be able to meet its climate objectives. This is the conclusion of the report “How to reconcile nutrition and climate?” (PDF)published Tuesday February 20 by Réseau Action Climat, a federation of associations involved in the fight against global warming, and the French Nutrition Society.
“Food represents 22% of the national carbon footprint”, recalls the report. It is therefore one of the major levers for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Livestock farming alone represents 46 megatons of CO2 equivalent, highlighted in the fall of 2023 the latest report from the High Council for the Climate.
Overall, meat consumption is on the rise
Yet, “the transition in diets has not really begun”, notes the Climate Action Network report.
Since the 2000s, total meat consumption in France has continued to increase, driven by population growth. In 2000, France consumed 5,290 thousand tonnes of carcass equivalent (TEC), a unit which takes into account the weight of meat from slaughtered animals and processed products containing meat. In 2023, this figure reached 5,672 thousand tonnes, an increase of around 7%.
Consumption per capita fairly stable since 2000
Nevertheless, apart from a few variations, due to price effects or health scandals, meat consumption per capita has stabilized around 84 kgec (kilograms carcass equivalent) since 2010. The year 2023, however, marks a slight decline. “For the first time in a long time, we went back below the 84 kgec mark”, notes Lucile Rogissart, researcher at the Institute of Economics for Climate (I4CE), specialist in agricultural and food transition.
This relative stability was nevertheless accompanied by certain changes in habits: if the French slowed down their consumption of meat at home, this was compensated by consumption outside the home. A very marked phenomenon over the last two years, when catering resumed after the Covid crisis.
Causes difficult to identify
However, it is difficult to conclude that ecological awareness is at the origin of this shift. “Is it a question of changes in the behavior of individuals, aware of environmental issues, or structural changes in our demography, which is increasingly urban and increasingly elderly?” asks Lucile Rogissart.
Among the factors mentioned to explain this slight decline in consumption in 2023: inflation, but also animal welfare issues. Other elements could be at the origin of this relative decline in meat consumption. “In the various sociological surveys, it seems that the main driver for reducing meat is health, particularly among people over 50”states the researcher.
More poultry and less beef
If the quantities consumed per person are relatively stable over the long term, consumption habits have evolved. Beef meat is thus experiencing a slight decline, to the benefit of poultry, consumption of which has increased significantly.
This development constitutes progress if we focus solely on the issues of greenhouse gas emissions, notes the researcher. But this progress must be put in the context of the current climate emergency. “While it is true that pork and poultry emit less than beef, these are products that still emit more than plant proteins,” she recalls thus.
Furthermore, to address the issue of climate change in its entirety, other factors must be taken into account. Raising granivores, such as pigs and poultry, requires dedicating plots of land to feeding these animals, even though these agricultural lands could be directly useful for human food. In addition, farmed poultry are fed mainly with soya, the cultivation of which promotes deforestation, particularly outside Europe. So many reasons which must “encourage people to reduce their meat consumption as a whole”, concludes Lucile Rogissart.
Since the 19th century, the average temperature of the Earth warmed by 1.1°C . Scientists have established with certainty that this increase is due to human activities, which consume fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas). This warming, unprecedented in its speed, threatens the future of our societies and biodiversity. But solutions – renewable energies, sobriety, reduced meat consumption – exist. Discover our answers to your questions on the climate crisis.