25% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock.

Judge against authoritative estimates available as of October 2022. True: mainstream estimates (FAO, IPCC, or major peer-reviewed studies) put livestock's share of global greenhouse gas emissions at about 25% (22–28%). Mostly true: the mainstream estimates are 19% to under 22%, or above 28% up to 31%. Mostly false: the main estimates for livestock alone are well below 25% (for example FAO's 14.5%), and the 25% figure corresponds instead to a broader category such as agriculture, AFOLU or the whole food system, or to an outlier estimate. False: no credible estimate supports a livestock share anywhere near 25%, and nothing nearby explains the figure.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Tackling Climate Change through Livestock: A global ... FAO

   “With emissions estimated at 7.1 gigatonnes CO2-eq per annum, representing 14.5 percent of human-induced GHG emissions, the livestock sector plays an important role in climate change.”

2. E2 Yes, eating meat affects the environment, but cows are not killing the climate International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI); article by Frank M. Mitloehner, UC Davis, republished from The Conversation · 4 September 2019

   “In its most recent assessment report, the FAO estimated that livestock produces 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions from human activities.”

3. E3 Can What We Eat Help Mitigate the Effects of Climate Change? Interesting Engineering · 30 October 2021

   “they calculated that a quarter (26%) of global emissions comes from food production, and more than half of this figure (58%) is due to animal production.”

4. E4 [PDF] Reducing the environmental footprint of livestock production CGIAR Initiative on Livestock and Climate (ILRI copyright) · 2024

   “Recent estimates suggest that livestock production accounts for approximately 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions, a reduction from previous estimates of 14.5% (Poore and Nemecek 2018).”

FAO puts livestock at 14.5 percent of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions (E1, E2), which is well below 25%. The figure of about a quarter (26%) matches an estimate for all food production, and animal production makes up only part of that (E3). Under the criteria, a 25% figure that comes from a broader category than livestock is mostly false. E4 is a 2024 brief that cites a lower livestock estimate of about 11%, and it is consistent with this verdict.