An Econometric Assessment of the Relationship Between Meat Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the United States

Abstract: Significant amounts of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) that contribute to global warming are produced by the livestock industry, which has indirect effects on global climate change and immediate effects on the ecosystem. The United States is a frontrunner in both meat consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Consequently, the objective of this research was to empirically examine the effect of meat consumption on GHG emissions in the USA with controlling variables such as economic growth and energy consumption. Using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing method and the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) technique, time-series data from 1990 to 2019 were analyzed. The ARDL bound test demonstrated that all variables are long-term cointegrated. The DOLS model revealed that a 1% increase in meat consumption increases greenhouse gas emissions by 0.83%. In the long term, a 1% increase in economic development would reduce GHG emissions by 0.08%, whereas a 1% increase in energy demand would increase GHG emissions by 1.89%. Using the fully modified least squares (FMOLS) method, the robustness of the DOLS results was evaluated. The empirical findings indicate that, with proper policy formulation and implementation, the USA livestock sector can become more environmentally favorable. Highlights: Emissions of greenhouse gases were linked to meat intake.Using time series data, the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares method was implemented.The results showed that meat consumption contributes to high levels of greenhouse gas emissions.Environmentally friendly recommendations for the livestock industry are offered.