Climate | IATP

Agriculture’s role in President Biden’s climate pledge to the UN

On Earth Day, April 22, President Biden will update the United States’ climate pledge to the United Nations at the Leaders Summit on the Climate with some of the world’s largest polluting countries in virtual at

WEBINAR: A Call to Address Climate Change: Food Producer Perspectives on the Path Forward

This webinar focused on grassroot concerns about carbon markets in agriculture. As the climate crisis increasingly impacts rural communities in the U.S., corporate capture of the climate agenda threatens to undermine efforts to hold polluters accountable and bolster resilience in rural communities.

Time for US and EU to regulate factory farms’ greenhouse gas emissions

The largest hog and dairy operations in the U.S. are run more like factories than farms. They concentrate thousands of animals indoors and produce massive amounts of manure, which is often turned into liquid and sprayed on farm fields. This factory farm system is a major source of the potent greenhouse gas (GHG) methane. Yesterday, U.S.

What underlies the underlying (asset) of CO₂ emissions offset futures contracts?

On March 3, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) proudly announced the first trading results of its Global Emissions Offset (GEO) futures contract.

How Minnesota should consider climate change and approval of factory farms

Minnesota is off-track to meet its greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals set in the 2007 Next Generation Energy Act. An important process for reviewing new projects could help put Minnesota back on track, and the state wants your input by the end of this month.

Calls for the Biden administration to prioritize our water infrastructure

Last week, IATP joined Food and Water Action and nearly 550 other national and regional organizations including Action Center on Race and The Economy, Center for Biological Diversity and Corporate Accountability in support of the Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity and Reliability (WATER) Act.

New EPA emissions data should guide Biden on agriculture and climate

“We must listen to science — and act,” reads President Joe Biden’s January 27 Executive Order on climate change. For the farming sector, the latest greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicates that the U.S. needs to transition away from factory farm systems of meat and dairy production to reduce rising agriculture emissions.

Paris Agreement: Biden's chance to restore international standing

The following op-ed originally appeared on The Hill on January 22, 2021. 

Smithfield’s false claims

Global pork giant Smithfield Foods makes a lot of claims about the environmental sustainability of its products and hog production system.

Five questions for Vilsack: What will be different in return to USDA?

When Tom Vilsack began his first term as agriculture secretary in 2009, IATP lifted up a series of challenges and opportunities for the department, urging him to follow in the path of another Iowan at USDA, Henry Wallace. We wrote: “the central challenges once again are markets run amok and the unsustainable farming practices they promote.” We pointed out “the real winners in the system are a tiny handful of agribusiness companies, who profit from the boom bust cycle and whose anti-competitive control of the market hurts farmers an