Brazil’s methane emissions increased 6 per cent between 2020 and 2023, when the world’s largest beef exporter released 21.1 million tons of the potent greenhouse gas, its second-highest level ever.

According to a study released by the Climate Observatory on Wednesday, three-fourths of Brazil’s methane gas emissions were linked to beef and dairy cattle production, which accounted for 14.5 million tons of total emissions in 2023, the equivalent of 406 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent.

That figure exceeded all the greenhouse gases emitted by Italy in the same year, the Climate Observatory said.

“Methane is a greenhouse gas that can warm the planet much more than carbon dioxide,” Climate Observatory, a network of environmental organisations from Brazilian civil society, said in a statement.

Brazil, home to the world’s second-biggest cattle herd, must develop its own solutions to cut methane emissions, said David Tsai, coordinator of the group’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Removals Estimates System. He said fossil fuels are a key driver of methane emissions in other countries, whereas in Brazil, the problem regards food production.

Gabriel Quintana, a specialist in greenhouse gas emissions at Imaflora, a Brazilian non-governmental organisation, pointed to New Zealand as an example of a cattle-producing country that had cut its emissions.

Brazil sells beef and beef byproducts to scores of countries. In November, the nation will host the COP 30 climate conference in Belm, a port city that is the gateway to the country’s lower Amazon region.

The country is the world’s fifth-largest emitter of methane, behind China, the U.S., India, and Russia, the Climate Observatory’s statement said.

Methane gas is mainly a byproduct of cattle belching that results from the animals’ digestive process. Other methane sources include animal waste and irrigated rice production.

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