News & Insights

As President Biden begins his first days in office, the jury is out on whether his administration will embrace bold and progressive policies, or ultimately be governed by caution and conservatism. I believe his handling of the meat industry could reveal his true colours as a leader. The most prominent acid test will be to see how Biden squares support for the meat industry with his climate ambitions. The new President has pledged to re-join the Paris Agreement and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

On the 9th of August, one of the most comprehensive documents thus far on the state of our ongoing fight against climate change was released. The culmination of eight years of scientific study, this first instalment of the sixth IPCC Climate Change Assessment Report came with a stark warning that our chances of capping global heating at 1.5° are growing increasingly slim. The news sounded alarm bells across myriad sectors of the global economy. There is, however, one sector which is all too often permitted to fade into the background.

In July 2021 the French Government announced plans to ban the culling of day-old chicks by the egg industry, shortly after a similar ban was passed into law in Germany in May of the same year. Now, with both laws coming into effect in January of 2022, the EU’s two largest economies have set their sights on persuading the rest of the block to follow suit. To those keenly following this particular topic however, this latest push from the heart of the EU rings with a note of familiarity.