A research centre at a leading US university has received millions of dollars from agribusiness interests and played a central role in communications campaigns seriously downplaying the livestock industry’s environmental impact, an investigation by Greenpeace Unearthed reveals.
The University of California Davis’ Clarity and Leadership for Environmental Awareness and Research (CLEAR) Center was set up in 2018. Its stated purpose is to “help the animal agriculture sector operate more efficiently” to “meet the demands of a growing population while it lessens its impact on the environment and climate”.
However, more than 100 pages of correspondence between the CLEAR Center and its agribusiness supporters – obtained by Greenpeace Unearthed (a team of investigative journalists at Greenpeace UK) under FOI laws – reveal how the Center was set up with funding from the livestock industry and is advised by with meat industry lobbyists on the “research and communications priorities of the industry”. It has been a prominent voice in communications campaigns undermining scientific consensus on the livestock industry’s contribution to climate change. Since its formation it has received – or is due to receive – $3.2 million dollars from agribusiness interests, only a fraction of which is disclosed on its website.
The documents describe how the Center’s “objective research” and “neutral, credible, third-party voice” will be used in outreach with journalists and policymakers to give a positive account of the industry’s environmental impact.
A stand-out example of the Center’s influence is revealed by a tranche of documents showing it was at the heart of a backlash against the landmark EAT-Lancet report in 2019. The report’s ‘planetary health diet’ – a prescription for more greens, more beans, less sugar and much less meat – was widely well-received by climate scientists, health experts and mainstream media. But livestock lobbyists, pro-meat dieticians and food writers mobilised rapidly online. Their voices, discrediting the report’s findings were loud enough to cause highly polarised debates online driving misinformation, conspiracy theories and personal attacks.
In a private report to agribusiness donors the CLEAR Center credits its lead academic Frank Mitloehner – a prominent figure and frequently called-upon spokesperson on greenhouse gas emissions from livestock – with launching “a massive campaign… successful in swaying undecided audiences away from the EAT-Lancet report.”
The documents also show:
- The Center’s structure was agreed in a memorandum of understanding between UC Davis and an arm of the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) whose members include three of the world’s biggest meat producers: Cargill, Tyson Foods and Pilgrim’s, which is owned by JBS.
- In briefings to its agribusiness donors, the Center charts a ‘rethink methane’ campaign, which suggests existing emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas are less impactful and that the industry’s climate footprint should be revised.
- Having trained leading lobbyists for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), Mitloehner proposes the group adopt a new metric for measuring its methane emissions – GWP* – and aim for ‘climate neutrality’ rather than ‘carbon neutrality.’ To be carbon neutral, emissions must be net-zero, whereas to be climate neutral – for a livestock producer using GWP* – simply means your emissions must stop increasing.
- Dr Mitloehner is credited with undermining an ad-campaign by Burger King in an effort to address its methane emissions. Following Mitloehner’s interventions, the media narrative changed from celebratory to highlighting the agriculture industry’s objections to it. And later, Burger King pledged to “work with the CLEAR Center on enteric emissions research and science communication,” paying it US$106,000.
- The CLEAR Center planned to publish research undermining plant-based alternatives to beef. Internal emails show the research, carried out by one of Dr Mitloehner’s graduate students, was funded by the NCBA. In a video about her research, the student makes a series of misleading statements, including that replacing ground beef with meat alternatives will lead to “an increase in agricultural land use,” apparently failing to account for land used to grow cattle feed, and “an increase in greenhouse gas emissions”. Late last year, Mitloehner recommended to NCBA chief Colin Woodall that the group hire the student as senior director of sustainability, which it did.
- Among the members of its 12-person advisory committee are representatives of agribusiness companies Cargill, pharmaceutical firm Elanco and feed firm Alltech, plus trade associations AFIA the North American Meat Institute, whose members include meat producers JBS and Tyson Foods. The CLEAR Center has committed to allowing this board to provide “input and advice” on the “research and communications priorities of the industry”.
Responding to the findings by Unearthed, Walter Willet, lead author of the EAT-Lancet report and celebrated nutrition professor at Harvard University, said:
“It is rather shocking that UC Davis, which is a leading research institution, allows their name to give credibility to a coordinated disinformation campaign supported by the beef industry.”
Greenpeace US Head of Forests Diana Ruiz said:
“Co-opting a research center at a notable US university as a mouthpiece for anti-climate, pro-meat, propaganda must have felt like a real coup for Big Ag. Unearthed’s investigation has blown that cover. It’s a clear example of Big Ag taking tactics straight out of the oil industry’s playbook to delay action on climate.
“The leadership of UC Davis must decide whether they want their institution’s legacy and name associated with an organization set up to promote misleading information and pro-industry communications.
“Policy makers, academics, journalists and the public must also take note that any information published or shared by the CLEAR Center at UC Davis is likely to be biased toward big ag.”
Frank Mitloehner responded to a right to reply from Unearthed to confirm that the CLEAR Center does work with the livestock sector. His full comment can be read in the investigation by Unearthed here.
