New reports by independent think tank InfluenceMap and The Union of Concerned Scientists have found that meat and dairy lobbyists are weakening climate policies in the EU and the US respectively.
The InfluenceMap analysis finds that the European meat and dairy industry is mirroring the tactics of the fossil fuel industry through strategic narrative building and detailed policy engagement. Both sectors have used public messaging to promote misleading narratives, sowing doubt about the necessity of curbing emissions. This is despite the fact that meat and dairy are estimated to be responsible for 85% of Europe’s agricultural emissions.
“Expert advice and recommendations are being drowned out and watered down by self-serving advocates”
According to InfluenceMap, these tactics have significantly impacted EU climate policymaking; a third of policies included in the report have been seriously weakened and half have stalled altogether due to oppositional advocacy from the industry. These tactics have also influenced the narratives of conservative political parties, who are opposing policies that would reduce emissions in the agricultural sector.
Interestingly, a split has been observed between different parts of the meat and dairy sectors; industry associations representing meat and dairy producers such as Arla and Danish Crown are taking an oppositional approach to EU climate policies, whereas consumer goods-focused companies like Unilever and Nestlé are engaging more positively.
“Corporations and industry have a critical role in addressing climate breakdown and biodiversity loss, but this report clearly highlights that expert advice and recommendations are being drowned out and watered down by self-serving advocates,” said TV broadcaster and environmental campaigner Chris Packham. “The issues of livestock emissions and a need to transition to a more plant-based food system requires the farming industry to work boldly and quickly alongside government and scientists to strengthen climate policies, not weaken them.”
Lobbying in the US
Meanwhile, research by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has observed a similar pattern in the US, finding that agribusiness and industry groups have spent more than half a billion dollars since 2018 lobbying on issues such as the next food and farm bill. For example, the American Farm Bureau Federation, known for denying the science of climate change, spent $15.7 million on tactics such as working to water down the requirements for corporations to report their climate emissions.
Consequently, UCS has called on the members of Congress responsible for writing the food and farm bill to prioritize the needs of small and midsize farmers, Black, brown, and Indigenous farmers, and rural communities ahead of corporate profits.
“This is an industry that regularly spends more money lobbying Congress than either Big Oil or defense contractors, and for understandable reasons,” said Karen Perry Stillerman, deputy director of the Food and Environment Program at UCS and co-author of the report. “The food and farm bill has the power to transform our food and farm system, and agribusiness and industry groups know this. They started lobbying from almost the moment the last farm bill was enacted, showing that these groups are always working to influence this legislation in their favor.”
