Meatless Fridays against climate change

A study points out that recovering this Catholic tradition would reduce emissions

A new study led by the University of Cambridge says the Catholic Church could help reduce carbon emissions by bringing back meatless Fridays. In 2011, the Catholic bishops of England and Wales asked congregations to give up meat again on Fridays. Only a quarter of Catholics changed their eating habits, but they still saved more than 55,000 tons of carbon a year. The researchers say that, in terms of CO2 emissions, this equates to 82,000 fewer people making a round trip from London to New York over the course of a year.

The current Catholic leader, Pope Francis, has called for “radical” responses to climate change, recall the researchers, who argue that, if the Pope were to restore meatless Fridays throughout the global church, he could mitigate millions of tons of greenhouse gases annually. For example, they claim that, if only the Catholic bishops in the United States issued the “obligation” to resist meat on the last day of the working week, the environmental benefits would probably be twenty times greater than in the United Kingdom.

“The Catholic Church is very well placed to help mitigate climate change, with more than a billion followers worldwide,” said lead author Professor Shaun Larcom, from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Economics–. Pope Francis has already highlighted the moral imperative to act in the face of the climate emergency, and the important role of civil society in achieving sustainability through lifestyle change.”

“Meat farming is one of the main drivers of greenhouse gas emissions,” Larcom says–. If the pope were to reinstate the obligation of meatless Fridays to all Catholics globally, it could be a major source of low-cost emissions reductions. Even if only a minority of Catholics choose to abide by it, as we found in our case study.”

Traditionally, the practice of abstaining from meat one day a week has caused many Catholics — and, indeed, large sections of the population in predominantly Christian countries — to turn to fish on Fridays as a substitute for protein.

Source: Diario de León