Beyond IPCC’s narratives on livestock: the need for integrated and holistic metrics

Abstract

The early IPCC assessment reports (2001, 2007) predominantly conceptualised livestock in technical and efficiency-oriented terms, focusing on productivity and technological innovations, while the 2014 and 2022 reports embed livestock within broader socio-environmental frameworks, explicitly linking it to diet and health, ecosystem services, and social justice. This discursive evolution illustrates a paradigmatic shift from sectoral mitigation to holistic sustainability paradigms. Nonetheless, the heterogeneity of livestock systems and context calls for more cross-cutting, context-sensitive metrics to inform equitable and evidence-based climate policy.