Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from beef production in the United States are unevenly distributed across the supply chain and production regions, complicating where and how to reduce emissions most effectively. Using spatially explicit life cycle assessment methods, we quantify the baseline GHG emissions and mitigation opportunities of 42 practices spanning the supply chain from crop and livestock production to processing. We find that the potential to reduce GHGs across the beef sector ranges up to 30% (20 million tonnes CO₂e reduced and 58 million tonnes CO₂ sequestered each year relative to the baseline) under ubiquitous adoption assumptions, largely driven by opportunities in the grazing stage. Opportunities to reduce GHGs in the feed, grazing and feedlot stages vary across regions, yet large-scale adoption across the entire beef supply chain is important. These findings reveal promising locations and practices to invest in to advance mitigation goals and an upper-end theoretical potential for mitigation in the beef industry.

美国牛肉生产产生的温室气体 (GHG) 排放在供应链和生产地区分布不均，这使得最有效减少排放的地点和方式变得复杂。使用空间明确的生命周期评估方法，我们量化了从农作物和牲畜生产到加工的供应链中 42 种做法的基准温室气体排放和缓解机会。我们发现，在普遍采用的假设下，整个牛肉行业温室气体减排潜力高达 30%（相对于基线，每年减少 2000 万吨 CO ₂ e，封存 5800 万吨 CO ₂ ），这主要是由以下领域的机会推动的：放牧阶段。饲料、放牧和饲养场阶段减少温室气体排放的机会因地区而异，但在整个牛肉供应链中大规模采用非常重要。这些发现揭示了有前景的投资地点和实践，以推进缓解目标，以及牛肉行业缓解的高端理论潜力。