How changing your diet could help save the world
For many of us, the holiday season can mean delightful overeating, followed by recriminatory New Year’s resolutions.
But eating enough and no more should be on the menu for all of us, according to a recent UBC study. It found that 44 per cent of us would need to change our diets for the world to warm no more than 2 C.
Dr. Juan Diego Martinez, who led the research as a doctoral student at UBC’s Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, discusses the study’s findings and the simple dietary changes we can all make.
What did you find?
Half of us globally and at least 90 per cent of Canadians need to change our diets to prevent severe planetary warming. And that number is conservative, because we used 2012 data. Since then, emissions and the world’s population have both increased. Looking ahead to 2050, we found that 90 per cent of us will need to be eating differently.
We looked at data from 112 countries, accounting for 99 per cent of food-related greenhouse gas emissions globally, and divided each country’s population into 10 income groups. We calculated a food emissions budget for each person by combining emissions from food consumption, global food production and supply chains, and compared these emissions to the total the world can afford if we want to stay below 2 C of warming.
Why focus on dietary changes rather than, say, flying less?
The world’s food systems are responsible for more than one-third of all human greenhouse gas emissions.
We found that the 15 per cent of people who emitted the most account for 30 per cent of total food emissions, equaling the contribution of the entire bottom 50 per cent. This select group consists of the wealthiest people in high emissions countries, including the Central African Republic, Brazil and Australia.
Even though this group is emitting a lot, there is a much higher number of people whose diets are above that cap. This is why half, not just the richest, of the global population needs to change diets. In Canada, all 10 income groups are above the cap.
Debates around flying less, driving electric and buying fewer luxury goods are valid: We need to reduce emissions any way we can. However, food emissions are not just a problem for the richest—we all need to eat, so we can all make a change. For people who are both flying frequently and eating lots of beef, it’s not an either/or: Try to reduce both.
What changes can we make to our diets?
Eat only what you need. Repurpose what you don’t. Less wasted food means fewer emissions, less cooking and more easy, tasty leftovers.
Eliminate or reduce your beef consumption—43 per cent of food-related emissions from the average Canadian come from beef alone. We could have had our beef and eaten it too if we’d followed the agreements laid out in the Kyoto Protocol, but we’re now at a point where food emissions also need to fall to avoid the worst of climate change.
I grew up in Latin America where eating a lot of beef is part of the culture, so I get how much of an ask this is. But we just can’t deny the data anymore.
Vote with your fork. This is a first step to demand change from your political leaders. The more we talk about our own dietary changes and what matters to us, the more politicians will begin to care about policies that bring positive changes to our food systems.
Journal
Environmental Research Food Systems
School meals could unlock major gains for human and planetary health
University College London
Healthy, sustainable school meals could cut undernourishment, reduce diet-related deaths and significantly lower environmental impacts, according to a new modelling study led by a UCL (University College London) researcher.
The study is part of a new collection of papers published in Lancet Planetary Health by members of the Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition – the independent research initiative of the School Meals Coalition. The papers find that well-designed school meal programmes could be a strategic investment in a healthier, more sustainable future.
Drawing together modelling, case studies and evidence from multiple disciplines, the six-paper collection demonstrates how planet-friendly school meal programmes can simultaneously improve child nutrition, reduce the prevalence of long-term diet-related illness, lessen climate and environmental pressures, and stimulate more resilient, agrobiodiverse food systems.
School meals: a strategic investment in human and planetary health
Global food systems are responsible for a third of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions while also contributing to rising malnutrition and diet-related diseases. At the same time, national school meal programmes feed 466 million children every day, representing 70% of the global public food system – a scale that provides governments unparalleled leverage.
A global modelling study, led by Professor Marco Springmann, modelling lead for the Research Consortium based at UCL’s Institute for Global Health, finds that providing a healthy, sustainable meal to every child by 2030 could:
- Reduce global undernourishment by 24%, with particularly strong impacts in food-insecure regions. This translates to 120 million fewer people in the world not getting enough vitamins, minerals, and energy from food
- Prevent over 1 million deaths every year from diet-related illnesses such as diabetes and coronary heart disease, assuming today’s schoolchildren retain, at least in part, preference for healthy foods into adulthood
- Halve food-related environmental impacts, including emissions and land use, when meals follow healthy, sustainable dietary patterns, for instance by increasing the proportion of vegetables and reducing meat and dairy products
- Generate major health and climate savings, significantly offsetting investment needs
Currently only one in five children in the world receive a school meal.
Professor Springmann said: “Our modelling shows that healthy and sustainable school meals can generate substantial health and environmental gains in every region of the world. Importantly, the climate and health savings that result from healthier diets and lower emissions can help offset the costs of expanding school meal programmes. The evidence is clear: investing in school meals is both effective and economically sound.”
A framework for transforming food systems
To support governments to transition to planet-friendly school meal programmes, the collection sets out a conceptual framework for how school meals can drive systemic food systems transformation at scale, structured around four essential pillars:
- Healthy, diverse, culturally relevant school menus
- Clean, modern cooking methods
- Reduced food loss and waste
- Holistic food education that connects children, families and communities
Together, these pillars offer governments a pathway to improve child health and food literacy, strengthen agrobiodiversity, stimulate ecological local production and build climate-resilient food systems. Crucially, the framework emphasises that these pillars must be embedded in public procurement rules, nutrition standards and policy reforms to unlock their full potential and shift demand towards healthier and more sustainable food systems.
Dr Silvia Pastorino, Diets & Planetary Health Lead for the Research Consortium and curator of the collection based at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), said: “This framework highlights how school meals are not just a nutrition programme – they are a powerful lever for transforming food systems. When meals are healthy, sustainable and linked to food education, they improve children’s wellbeing today and foster long-term sustainable habits, while helping countries protect biodiversity, reduce emissions and build resilient communities. Few interventions deliver such wide-ranging, long-lasting benefits.”
The framework builds on insights first published in the Research Consortium’s 2023 White Paper, School Meals and Food Systems, which brought together 164 authors from 87 organisations worldwide, also coordinated by Dr Pastorino.
Food, learning, energy, and biodiversity
To further explore each of the four pillars laid out in the framework, the wider Lancet Planetary Health collection includes:
- A viewpoint from FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations) on integrating food education into learning to build lifelong sustainable habits
- A personal view from a Loughborough University team on the critical role of clean, reliable energy in delivering safe, planet-friendly meals
- A scoping review from Alliance Bioversity-CIAT on the importance of agrobiodiversity in providing nutritious, climate-resilient school menus
- A personal view from an Imperial College London team on promoting regenerative agriculture, agrobiodiversity, and food security through school feeding
From evidence to action: supporting governments to implement planet-friendly policies
In partnership with international organisations and government partners, the Research Consortium is now developing a Planet-Friendly School Meals Toolkit to help countries assess the costs, environmental impacts and health benefits of shifting to sustainable school meal models. Co-created with partners in Kenya and Rwanda, the first results are expected in spring 2026.
Journal
The Lancet Planetary Health
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