Climate Misalignment: Industrial Livestock and the Paris Agreement

Stop Financing Factory Farming
2nd June '23
An aerial drone view of many cattle in many feedlot pens in the deforested region of Para, Brazil
Drone view of cattle feedlot in Para, Brazil

Development bank investments in industrial livestock are at odds with their Paris Agreement commitments

Endorsed by 18 civil society organisations, and lead authored by Friends of the Earth, the Climate Misalignment Report details how multilateral development bank (MDB) investments in industrial livestock are at odds with their commitments to align their investments and activities with the Paris Agreement.

Without reducing and cutting down on meat consumption and the associated high-intensity agriculture systems, we will not be able to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees. That is very clear.

Professor Hans Pörtner, scientist and co-chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2022

The report documents how MDBs’ frameworks for aligning their investments with the Paris Agreement are resulting in misclassification of industrial livestock investments as compatible with the climate mitigation and adaptation goals. It urges development banks to exclude industrial livestock and feed operations in order to be truly “Paris-aligned.” 

Kelly McNamara, Senior Research and Policy Analyst at Friends of the Earth and lead author, reflects on the urgent need for the World Bank and others to change their practices: “The climate consequences of industrial animal agriculture are staggering. Studies estimate livestock production will use up nearly half the world’s 1.5°C emissions budget by 2030 and 80% by 2050.

The World Bank’s continued support for the global expansion of factory farming is exacerbating the climate crisis at a time when the Bank has committed to align its strategies, investments, and activities with the Paris Agreement’s aim of limiting global warming to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C. To help preserve our collective chances at a world free of poverty on a livable planet, the World Bank must cease its support for factory farming, the continued expansion of which threatens to keep the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals firmly out of reach.”

Download the report via the link below.

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