Accountability of livestock multinationals for global environmental impacts

Accountability of livestock multinationals for global environmental impacts | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Brief Communication Accountability of livestock multinationals for global environmental impacts Christina Drotenko, Oliver Taherzadeh, Laura Scherer, Anniek Kortleve, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8924723/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Transnational livestock corporations are major contributors to environmental pressures, but rarely disclose their global impacts. To address this transparency gap, we integrate company-level production data (beef, poultry, pork, dairy) with a model that quantifies environmental impacts of 53 companies. These companies contribute substantially to land use (26%), water use (23%), and nitrogen application (28%) in the global livestock sector, highlighting the need for independent benchmarking and stronger sustainability disclosure requirements. Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental impact Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SupplementaryTables.xlsx Supplementary Tables 1-4 SupplementaryNotes.docx Supplementary Notes I-III Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8924723","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Brief Communication","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":594389809,"identity":"e22215bf-a6e7-4cc2-8290-e58863f986e6","order_by":0,"name":"Christina Drotenko","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABD0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYHACAzApwcB8gIGhgEGGgRkiwgPEjAdwakkAaWFLALF5kLUwENDCYwDRArMXlxb+BuZtHz7+sMmTbO/5+OkGUAs/O/PGx4Vtd2QMDvAewKZF4gBb8cwZCWnF0jxnN0vnALVINrMVG89se8ZjcIAvAZsWoBpjZp6Ew4nzJHK3MYO0GBzmMZPmbTvMI9kA1IVby3+glpxnYC32h3nMfxOh5UDibIkcNogtzDxmzCAt/AzYtUgcZitmnJGWnDiz55gx0C8SPCARaZ5zQC3M2LXwtzdvZvhgY5c443jzw885FTZy/P2HN37mKTtsz8beY/gAixZgxKHailtqFIyCUTAKRgHxAAD6z1RPLxfNHQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3861-6793","institution":"Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Christina","middleName":"","lastName":"Drotenko","suffix":""},{"id":594389810,"identity":"53b630a3-1e17-4e2e-9560-3439652146f1","order_by":1,"name":"Oliver Taherzadeh","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6144-9483","institution":"Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Oliver","middleName":"","lastName":"Taherzadeh","suffix":""},{"id":594389811,"identity":"5ad7f4cc-5df3-41f6-8be1-88002d9e59ad","order_by":2,"name":"Laura Scherer","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0194-9942","institution":"Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Laura","middleName":"","lastName":"Scherer","suffix":""},{"id":594389812,"identity":"454cc074-419d-4008-9a70-5e77bc9b5689","order_by":3,"name":"Anniek Kortleve","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4617-2281","institution":"Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anniek","middleName":"","lastName":"Kortleve","suffix":""},{"id":594389813,"identity":"51f24e3b-9c83-440b-8cbd-976b5192c432","order_by":4,"name":"Rutger Hoekstra","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6531-9782","institution":"Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rutger","middleName":"","lastName":"Hoekstra","suffix":""},{"id":594389814,"identity":"28ee865b-7e52-4876-a755-949d2bddd034","order_by":5,"name":"Paul Behrens","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2935-4799","institution":"Oxford Martin School, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom; 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