Edinburgh Napier University

  Key Messages
• Livestock are vital for nutrition, food security, and livelihoods in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), but climate change threatens these benefits.
• The livestock sector also presents an environmental challenge, contributing an estimated 12% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
• With increasing global demand for animal products, there is likely to be an increase in the GHG footprint of the livestock sector.
• Sustainably increasing livestock productivity is crucial to balance livelihood support and emissions reduction goals.
• Investing in livestock can reduce greenhouse gas emissions while alleviating poverty, improving nutrition, and building climate resilience.
• Additional measures, supported by investments, are needed to abate emissions and increase carbon capture.
• Climate finance could support the shift towards sustainability, but investments to date have been limited.
• The brief identifies several barriers facing financing institutions wishing to invest in livestock and sets out potential solutions.
• There is a narrowing window to shape the nature of the sector’s growth and therefore its environmental impact in emerging markets.
• Strategic sector investments are needed to target high-quality growth, reduce emissions, and address climate impacts on the livestock sector.