Replacing animal-based foods with alternative proteins would unlock land for carbon removal, say researchers [View all]

[redqueen]

The study showed even just a 30% reduction would be enough to allow for significant improvement.

Researchers report that replacing 50% of animal products with alternative proteins by 2050 could free up enough agricultural land to generate renewable energy equivalent in volume to today's coal-generated power while simultaneously removing substantial CO2 from the atmosphere.

The study, published in the journal One Earth, is based on a CO2-removal method known as "bioenergy with carbon capture and storage" (BECCS), which involves cultivating quickly growing crops whose biomass can then be stored permanently in geological formations or used as a feedstock to produce renewable energy.

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"Animal-source foods use resources inefficiently because animals consume more food than they provide, and feeding the animals requires considerable land and water," write the researchers, led by environmental scientist Oscar Rueda of Leiden University. "We show that a protein transition could free up extensive resources for BECCS to achieve substantial energy and carbon-removal potentials."

To test how a dietary shift might augment carbon removal, the researchers estimated how much land would be freed up if humans replaced 10% to 100% of animal protein with plant-based or other alternative proteins. Then, they estimated the potential for using this land for biomass production while keeping sufficient land and water available to sustain ecosystems and meet global food and water needs.

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https://phys.org/news/2024-02-animal-based-foods-alternative-proteins.amp