Welsh meat promoter HCC criticised over comments

A group that promotes Welsh meat has been accused of “peddling climate change misinformation”.

Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC) – Meat Promotion Wales posted on Facebook that it’s a “myth” that “methane emissions from cows are responsible for global warming”, attracting some criticism.

HCC chief executive Jose Peralta has since defended the post, adding that human activity was “responsible for global warning” and “within that human activity, cattle production is one of them”.

But Rory Francis, director of charity Cymdeithas Eryri / Snowdonia Society, called the post “hugely disappointing”.

“They should have a mission to explain that we should be talking to each other rather than peddling misinformation,” he said.

Methane is the second most common greenhouse gas after CO2 and is released by livestock, such as cows and sheep, when they burp.

“I acknowledge that they are partly responsible for it, but they’re not responsible exclusively for it,” said Mr Peralta, in an interview on BBC Radio Wales’ Sunday Supplement.

He said the HCC’s own campaign, the Welsh Way, was trying to take the lead in sustainable beef and lamb production, but that greenhouse gas emissions in the agricultural industry were only part of the global issue, with transportation and energy generation also contributing.

Mr Francis said HCC had a “good story to tell” about Welsh farming and should not be “basing their pitch on something which is untrue”.

He also said the organisation was funded by the Welsh government which had a “proud record of showing leadership on the climate crisis”.

The Welsh government said HCC was an independent body and it was for it to “decide what they publish on their social media channels”.

“We would however, like any other body, expect them to be accurate and evidence-based,” it said.