Climate: in France, the Court of Auditors calls for a reduction in cattle herd

For the climate, the main problem of livestock farming is methane emissions from cattle, which account for 45% of agricultural emissions. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

In France, while Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne presented this Monday, May 22, her plan to accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for climate change, the Court of Auditors proposes an effective lever to the government: reduce the cattle herd.

Advertising

Read more

According to the Court of Auditors - which is an independent administration - cow farming is responsible for 11.8% of CO2 equivalent emissions in France. That's as much as the country's residential buildings.

For the climate, the main problem of livestock farming is methane emissions from cattle. That is, cows' burps and droppings, because methane is an even more warming greenhouse gas than CO2. In France, methane emissions account for 45% of agricultural emissions, far too much if the France wants to meet its climate commitments.

For the Court of Auditors, which publishes a report on public subsidies to cattle breeding, the government must therefore "define a strategy to reduce livestock". Europe's largest beef producing country, the France has 17 million cows, but its herd is already declining as farmers retire.

Review aid to the sector or support for retraining

For the wise men, it is necessary to go further, to pilot this reduction and review aid to the sector, to subsidize farms that cross economic objectives and ecological objectives, or to support the conversion. Energy production such as biogas by methanization or the adoption of systems combining photovoltaic electricity production and agricultural production are avenues mentioned.

And the food sovereignty of the country would not be endangered, stresses the Court of Auditors, as long as all French follow health recommendations and do not eat more than 500 grams of red meat per week.

>> Read also: Livestock: how to reduce enteric methane in cows

Newsletter Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

Read on on the same topics:

  • France
  • Climate
  • Agriculture and Fisheries