Written by Nathanael Johnson for grist.org Nobody in the United States paid much attention when the Chinese government released new dietary guidelines earlier this month. But hidden within them is a provision that could slash carbon emissions from livestock, according to the group Climate Nexus citing a forthcoming report from WildAid. China is saying something simple and straightforward, something that the U.S. government has never been able to bring itself to say: Eat less meat. If 1.3 billion Chinese people follow the guidelines and eat just 200 grams of meat and eggs a day — instead of increasing their meat consumption as expected — it would prevent a lot of greenhouse gas from entering the atmosphere. And when we say “a lot” we mean on the order of 1.5 percent of global emissions . That’s like zeroing out Mexico’s carbon emissions every year. The Chinese dietary guidelines don’t say anything about greenhouse gasses, only about health. The government issued them as part of a campaign against obesity. Even so, in a statement responding to the news, food and climate expert Jonathan Foley underlined the importance of dietary changes. “Reducing our meat consumption — especially red meat — even a little bit can have profound impacts on the future of the planet,” Foley said.