The meat and dairy industries have been found to be successfully lobbying at major environmental events to mislead policymakers and protect their interests, a Changing Markets Foundation Report has found.
The Dangerous Distractions report has revealed a co-ordinated effort between major livestock players to downplay emissions, attack independent science and frame rising meat production as compatible with climate goals, the charity said.
The sustainability NGO said its latest report demonstrated how this approach had already affected real-world outcomes and weakened environmental safeguards, such as the rollback of the Amazon Soy Moratorium.
It added this contradicted the industry’s narrative that the sectors had a “positive story” to tell.
“Big Meat and Dairy have a long history of derailing climate action,” said Nusa Urbancic, CEO of Changing Markets Foundation. “These documents reveal that the industry sees climate as a PR problem rather than a real threat to their bottom line.”
Read more: Meat lobby threatening to undermine Eat-Lancet report, warn campaigners
Recordings from the World Meat Congress revealed that the dominant call was not emissions reduction, but an effective communications strategy, with attendees told that the solution to the sector’s challenges lay in controlling “the narrative about cattle production”.
Meanwhile, the report outlined that the assistant director-general and director of the Animal Production and Health Division at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) told industry representatives at the Congress that the “FAO is your friend” and “the world needs more animal protein”.
This, the NGO said, underscored concerns about the United Nations food body’s bias towards the livestock industry.
The report has also exposed systematic effort to challenge or discredit independent research on sustainable diets and methane emissions including the Eat-Lancet Commission findings, which were attacked at the World Meat Congress, the NGO said.
It also said that the industries were setting the agenda for climate talks with over 300 lobbyists and almost 200 influencers present at COP30 to emphasise the positive story the industry had to tell.
“As critical time to cut emissions is running out, their deliberate efforts to shape outcomes and deflect scrutiny must be taken seriously,” Urbancic added. “Unless these tactics are exposed and addressed, climate negotiations will continue to be steered by their agenda – at the expense of a just transition to sustainable food systems.”
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