Abstract
A limited understanding of the potential to reduce emissions and a lack of climate incentives hinder progress toward mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from beef production. This study explored the GHG mitigation potential in South America by evaluating nearly 30 beef cattle production systems across five key beef-producing countries (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, and Uruguay). The study outlined a low-emission beef roadmap for this major beef producing region. Data from this study indicate that the current business-as-usual trajectory of improvements in South America's beef cattle production is insufficient to reduce GHG emissions at a pace that aligns with the urgency of climate crisis. Results from this study show that scaling up existing practices -such as improved forages, rotational grazing, and feed supplementation- to match the performance of the region's lowest-emission systems at 20(th)percentile could deliver significant results. Emission intensities could decrease by 33-50% compared to the projected 2050 regional average (35 tons carbon dioxide equivalent/ton of carcass weight). This would flatten the emissions curve, cutting total emissions by 20-40% while simultaneously increasing beef production by 43%. With annual methane (CH(4)) emission reductions by 1.5%, the warming effect could decrease by 70-90%, offering a transformative pathway to lower GHG emissions from beef production. This emissions trajectory offers a feasible path toward net-zero warming from beef production, primarily through sustained reductions in CH(4) emissions intensity and absolute emissions as systems become more production efficient. These findings highlight the need and an opportunity for a drastic reduction in emissions from beef cattle production and can foster collaboration among conservation, industry, and finance stakeholders towards a common climate-oriented beef production agenda.