Valedictory lecture Prof. dr. Michael G. Faure

"The price of meat"

The influence of food production and more particularly meat has been dramatically neglected from international climate change law. That is striking, as several reports indicate that livestock production creates 14,5% of all global greenhouse gas emissions and even 25% if land use is included as well. This lecture argues that meat production should be included in the international climate change regime and examines a variety of instruments that could be employed to do so. It is argued that the most promising instrument is the introduction of a meat tax. The lecture sketches how the optimal tax rate should be determined, what the effects of the tax are expected to be and how support for a meat tax could be achieved. However, it is equally argued that the meat tax should be one instrument among a smart mix of various instruments, including also behavioral policy. So far, the effects of meat production on climate change have been dramatically ignored as none of the G20 countries have referred to the effect of food production on global warming in their nationally determined contributions. The only reason that this has so far not been done is that it has been prevented by effective lobbying from the meat industry.  

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