Robert Paarlberg, a research affiliate of the Harvard Initiative on Reducing Global Methane Emissions, published commentary on the website of the Center for Strategic & International Studies, titled “Methane Reduction in Livestock: Confronting the North-South Gap.” Paarlberg notes that most methane emissions from beef and dairy cattle occurs in the Global South, despite greater production in the Global North. At the same time, production is growing rapidly in the South, promising even greater emissions. Paarlberg explains that producers in the North have adopted advanced management practices over the years, resulting in cattle devoting “…more of the energy they took in to weight gain and milk production, and less to simply staying alive, reducing the quantity of methane emitted relative to total milk and meat production. [These practices] also reduced the number of animals needed to satisfy consumer demand.” Extending his argument, he suggests that the most important approach to reducing emissions (or at least emissions growth) in the South is through modernizing livestock systems.

The commentary, posted March 6, 2025, is available here.

Paarlberg’s research is supported in part by the Harvard Initiative on Reducing Global Methane Emissions, a research cluster of the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University.

Paarlberg is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College, an Associate in the Sustainability Science Program at the Harvard Kennedy School, and an Associate at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. He has published widely on agricultural policy and politics.