A paper published last month in the scientific journal, Nature, makes a compelling argument for significantly reducing meat and dairy consumption in order to reduce Green House Gas emissions and our impact on the climate. Obviously, in my opinion, we can do better and eliminate them entirely from our diet.
“Reducing climate change impacts from the global food system through diet shifts” [1] looked at 140 food products in 139 countries or areas to show that “within countries, consumer groups with higher expenditures generally cause more dietary emissions due to higher red meat and dairy intake”
The study considers the effect of a global shift to the EAT-lancet planetary health diet [2] and shows that the present global annual dietary emissions would fall by 17%
It is expected that poorer, underconsuming populations will increase their emmisions, but more than half (56.9%) of the global population, which is presently overconsuming, would save 32.4% of global emissions through diet shifts.
The EAT-lancet diet aims to consume no more than 98 grams of red meat (pork, beef or lamb), 203 grams of poultry and 196 grams of fish per week.
Here in the UK and in many countries there are now many nutritious plant-based products that can be substituted for meat, fish and dairy. In which case why stop at 98g of red meat per week?
The urgency of the need to change to climate saving diets is highlighted in the paper : “Given the notable increase in emissions driven by food consumption despite efficiency gains, changing consumer lifestyles and choices are needed to mitigate climate change”
The case for a vegan diet and lifestyle is stronger than ever
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-024-02084-1
[2] https://eatforum.org/eat-lancet-commission/the-planetary-health-diet-and-you
