Holy cow: Maltese among least likely to cut down on meat for planet

Nearly a third of Europeans are cutting down on meat to fight climate change, but less than one-fifth of Maltese are doing so, a Eurobarometer survey on climate change shows.

Respondents in the Netherlands (55%), Germany (51%), Luxembourg and Sweden (46% in both countries) are the most likely to answer that they buy and eat less meat. Those in Romania (12%) and Hungary and Poland (14% in both countries), Bulgaria (15%) and Malta (17%) were the least likely to do so.

Meat and dairy, particularly from cows, have an outsize impact on climate change, with livestock accounting for around 14.5% of the world’s greenhouse gases each year. That’s roughly the same amount as the emissions from all the cars, trucks, airplanes and ships combined in the world today.

In general, beef and lamb have the biggest climate footprint per gram of protein, while plant-based foods tend to have the smallest impact. Pork and chicken are somewhere in the middle.

Respondents in Denmark (51%), Slovenia (49%) and Luxembourg and Austria (48% in both countries) are the most likely to say they buy and eat more organic food, particularly compared with those in Hungary and Bulgaria (both 12%), and Malta (17%).

But compared to other Europeans, the Maltese are more likely to combat climate change by buying energy saving equipment and to avoid disposables but are less likely to consider the impact of eating meat.

When asked about what concrete actions they are taking to stop climate change the Maltese are less likely than the EU average to buy and eat less meat (17% vs EU average of 31%), to buy and eat more organic food (17% vs EU average of 32%) and to use public transport instead of the private car (26% vs EU average of 30%).

And while 16% of EU respondents consider the carbon footprint of their shopping only 10% of the Maltese do so. Only 4% of Maltese consider the carbon footprint of their holidays compared to an EU average of 11%.

But the Maltese are more likely than the EU average to have installed equipment in their home to control and reduce energy consumption (29%, versus 10% in the EU as a whole) and to have installed solar panels on their roofs (19% vs EU average of 8%). They are also more likely to say that lower energy consumption is an important factor in their choice when buying a new household appliance (58% vs the EU average of 42%). But when it comes to insulation the Maltese lag behind (11% vs the EU average of 18%).

The Maltese are also more likely to say that they separate their waste (82% vs EU average of 75%) and to have cut down consumption of disposable items (71% vs EU average of 59%).

Since 2019, the proportion of respondents who have taken action to fight climate change has increased in 14 EU Member States, most notably in Poland (52%, +12 percentage points), Ireland (72%, +10) and Portugal (83%, +9). Conversely, it has decreased in 12 countries, particularly in Malta (74%, -14), Denmark (62%, -13) and Sweden (74%, -10).