Home / Weak arguments / Weak or false science
"Livestock causes 51% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions."
They make claims about the body or nutrition that the evidence does not support. When they fall, they take the speaker's credibility with them.
Why it is weak
The figure comes from a 2009 piece published by the Worldwatch Institute, which counted, for example, animal respiration, something international methodologies do not count as emissions. It became famous through the documentary *Cowspiracy*.
Researchers from several institutions, including authors of the FAO report, challenged the method. The most accepted estimates are between 12% and 14.5%.
Using the highest, contested figure costs credibility, and the correct argument, which is already strong, gets buried.
How to say it better
Say that livestock accounts for between 12% and 14.5% of human emissions and about 40% of human-caused methane, together with the rest of agriculture. These are accepted figures, and they are enough.