World Bank Recommends Shifting “Wasteful” Subsidies Away From Animal Agriculture
In a new report titled Recipe for a Livable Planet, the World Bank recommends that high-income countries should shift subsidies away from animal agriculture and towards more sustainable alternatives. The report finds that conventional agriculture contributes to soil degradation, deforestation, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, and pollution. But even though the agrifood system is one of the biggest contributors to climate change, most actions that have been taken to reduce emissions have targeted other sectors. According to the World Bank, livestock account for 25.9% of agrifood emissions, more than any other source. Additionally, some other sources may be indirectly related to animal agriculture — for example, net forest conversion accounts for 18.4% of agrifood emissions, and forest is often cleared for pasture or to grow animal …