Forest has to be cut down (e.g. in Brazil) to create pasture land for cows to graze. More forest has to then be cut down to grow crops that serve to feed those

Forest has to be cut down (e.g. in Brazil) to create pasture land for cows to graze. More forest has to then be cut down to grow crops that serve to feed those cows. During their lifetime cows will emit massive amount of GHG in the form of methane. Beef has roughly 3% efficiency [1] (amount of energy consumed by the cow vs what is transferred to you when you eat it), the worst of any type of food, by far. For every kg of beef produce, about 60kg of CO2 equivalent is released. This is compared to 3kg of CO2 eq. per kg of tofu for example [2]. > Meat is renewable If by renewable you mean that it's a regenerating resource, sure. But how does that change anything with regard to GHG emission? Renewable process can pollute more than some non-renewable processes. Those are completly different issues. > but why tax the grass? The grass isn't taxed. With a carbon tax, you could buy grass and you would only pay an extra fee for the shipping that emitted CO2. But if you buy beef you have to pay for all the emissions of GHG that were necessary to get you that piece of beef. [1]: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/10/105002 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/10/1... [2]: https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/what-is-the-climate-impact-of-eating-meat-and-dairy/ https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/what-is-the-climate-impa...