Title page 1

Contents 3

Acknowledgments 2

Foreword 5

Executive summary 7

Introduction and context 8

About this report 8

Key findings 8

Conclusion and recommendations 11

Introduction 13

Resources 14

Methodology 15

Key sustainability considerations associated with beef production 17

Beef production systems 18

Climate 19

Land use and deforestation 20

Water use 22

Water pollution 22

Animal welfare 22

Antibiotic use 22

Soil health and biodiversity 23

Best practices to reduce emissions in beef production 25

Efficiency gains 26

Feed additives 26

Practices to enhance carbon sequestration 27

Other mitigation strategies 27

Mitigation potential 28

Trade-offs with "better" beef 29

Evaluating the impacts associated with beef sustainability labels 35

Existing beef sustainability labels 36

Emerging beef sustainability labels 36

Expert perspectives on reducing emissions in beef supply chains 41

The state of beef supply chain transparency in the United States 42

Emerging opportunities 42

Conclusion and recommendations for food purchasing organizations 45

1. Serve less beef 46

2. Identify sourcing priorities and serve even less beef if needed to address multiple sustainability commitments 47

3. Consider directly engaging producers and suppliers to adopt practices to reduce emissions 47

Glossary 49

Endnotes 50

References 53

About WRI 59

TABLE 1. Relative climate impacts associated with grass-finished or organic beef production systems compared to conventional systems... 30

TABLE 2. Example scenarios to shift beef purchasing to meet multiple sustainability values 33

TABLE 3. Performance of existing product attribute labels in the US for key sustainability and value indicators, as compared to median impact... 37

TABLE 4. Evaluating claims for lower emissions or carbon neutral beef labels introduced in the US 38

FIGURE 1. Beef cattle production systems in the US 18

FIGURE 2. Beef cattle production systems in the European Union 19

FIGURE 3. Environmental impacts per kilogram of edible protein of foods, as produced in the US and Europe 20

FIGURE 4. Opportunities to reduce agricultural supply chain emissions from US beef cattle 28

FIGURE 5. Opportunities to reduce the total carbon costs of US beef cattle 29

FIGURE 6. Illustrative effects of "less meat" and "better meat" scenarios on a company's food-related GHG emissions 31

Boxes 21

BOX 1. Quality of grazing land matters: What about arid rangelands that can't grow trees or crops? 21

BOX 2. Criteria for achieving the desired impacts of certification labels 39