G-20 carbon 'food-print' highest in meat-loving nations

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If everyone alive consumed steaks and dairy the way Brazilians and Americans do, we would need an extra five planets to feed the world

The production of food for 7.7 billion people is responsible for a quarter of the global carbon emissions that drive climate change.

About 40 per cent of that comes from livestock production and food waste, with the rest generated by rice production, fertiliser use, land conversion and deforestation to accommodate commercial crops.

"The food that we eat and how we produce it are also key drivers in the emergence of deadly viruses such as the one that leads to Covid-19."

Deforestation in particular erases the boundary between human settlements and natural reservoirs of disease in wild animals.