FAQs

What is a greenhouse gas (GHG)?

A GHG is any gas (naturally occurring or human-created) that absorbs heat energy from the sun and holds it in the atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide is the main GHG emitted by most industries, while methane from animals and nitrous oxide from manure handling and storage are the main gases emitted by the livestock industry.
 

What does a GHG do?

GHGs protect our environment. Without them our earth would be too cold to sustain life. However, extremely high levels of GHGs are not good either. This causes global warming which is not good for the earth and the life it contains.

What’s the relationship between cattle and GHGs?

While cattle are able to digest grasses that people can’t, in the process of doing so they produce methane. Through research and technology, Canadian cattle producers are leaders in management practices to reduce the level of methane that is produced. They understand that GHG emissions are losses of valuable inputs to cattle production and represent inefficiencies in production so they reduce these inefficiencies as much as possible.

What causes methane?

Methane emissions from cattle are largely a factor of feed quality and digestibility. As feed quality increases, methane emissions per pound of meat produced decreases. The quality of feed and pastures which Canadian cattle are provided far exceeds that of most countries.

What is Canada’s level of methane emissions?

With the level of care Canadian producers take, methane emissions in the beef industry account for only 0.05 per cent of global GHG emissions (National Inventory Report, 1990-2004 – Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks in Canada, Environment Canada).