Climate change committee calls for trade policy to block high carbon food imports

Chris Stark, CCC chief executive, said: “British beef, and lamb to a lesser extent, has some of the lowest greenhouse gas emissions of meat reared anywhere in the world.

“To meet the net zero goal, we do need emissions from UK livestock overall to fall, but it is very important we do not replace that with importation of higher greenhouse gas intensity meat from abroad.

“That is a challenge. We will need a strong trade policy to make that happen.”

Protein alternatives

As part of its plan to shift diets away from meat and dairy, the committee recommended Government promotes research and development into ‘novel protein alternatives’, as well as introducing stronger labelling.

It also called for stronger options, such as a tax or regulation, to be considered in the mid-2020s if softer measures ‘prove insufficient’.

Other recommendations in the report include introducing a feed-in tariff or trading scheme for tree planting, funded by a levy on high-emitting industries such as aviation; incentivising the growth of bioenergy crops with a high carbon price; regulating to move towards low carbon farming; restoring peatlands and cutting food waste.