A new study has revealed that carbon emissions from animal agriculture are the highest contributors towards global warming.

Dr. Sailesh Rao, Executive Director of Climate Healers, a non-profit dedicated towards healing the earth’s climate presents the findings of a Global Sensitivity Analysis (GSA) in his report.

According to GSA, animal agriculture is responsible for 87% of human-made greenhouse gas emissions.

Report findings

The paper states that climate change is a result of human-made greenhouse gases and aerosol emissions and not just carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions alone.

Although, the burning of fossil fuels releases the highest amount of human-made CO2 emissions, it also releases atmospheric particles called aerosols.

The paper claimed the annual methane emissions from animal agriculture increased global temperatures more than the annual CO2 emissions from all fossil fuel sources combined.

It further explained that human activities such as animal agriculture and fossil fuel burning led to “exhaust” gases formation. However, this exhaust could either heat up the earth or cool it depending on the source of emissions

The study claimed that CO2, methane and black carbon released from animal agriculture impacted the climate because of their heating components whereas sulphates (aerosols) primarily released when fossil fuels such as coal and oil are burnt had a cooling effect.

Conclusion

The report concluded: “We need to transition to a global plant-based economy first and that blindly eliminating fossil fuel usage first will (only) accelerate the warming of the planet.

“This paper [also] clearly illustrates why the scientific community, government institutions, corporations and news media, who vastly underestimate the role of animal agriculture and focus primarily on reducing fossil fuel use, need to urgently change their priorities in order to be effective.”

• Read: Bill Gates says people should eat more vegan meat to help fight climate change

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