A meat-eater's diet causes about 52% more greenhouse gas emissions than that of a vegetarian
and up to 102% more
than a vegan.
2014 UK Study
#1 Plant-Based Diet
#2 Grow Your Own Food
#3 Plant More Trees
#4 The Good Home
#5 Reduce Fossil Fuels
#6 Reduce Waste
#7 Get Involved
#8 Matauranga Maori
#9 Get Informed
#10 Love Nature
Which diet will help save our planet: climatarian, flexitarian, vegetarian or vegan?
There are several “climate-friendly” diets to choose from. The best known are the completely plant-based vegan diet, the vegetarian diet, which also allows eggs and dairy, and the pescetarian diet, which also allows seafood.
There are also “flexitarian” diets, where three quarters of meat and dairy is replaced by plant-based food, or the Mediterranean diet which allows moderate amounts of poultry, pork, lamb and beef.
The climatarian diet; one version was created by the not-for-profit organisation Climates Network, which says this diet is healthy, climate friendly and nature friendly. According to the publicity “with a simple diet shift you can save a tonne of CO₂ equivalents per person per year” (“equivalents” just means methane and other greenhouse gases are factored in alongside carbon dioxide).
The diet still allows you to eat meat and other high emission foods such as pork, poultry, fish, dairy products and eggs. So this is just a newer version of the “climate carnivore” diet except followers are encouraged to switch as much red meat (beef, lamb, pork, veal and venison) as possible to other meats and fish.
The diet does, however, encourage you to cut down on meat overall and to choose high-welfare and local meat where possible, while avoiding food waste and choosing seasonal, local foods.
So saving a tonne of carbon dioxide is great but switching to vegetarianism or veganism can save even more. A western standard meat-based diet produces about 7.2 kilograms of CO₂ equivalent per day, while a vegetarian diet produces 3.8 kg and a vegan diet 2.9 kg. If the whole world went vegan it would save nearly 8 billion tonnes CO₂e while even a switch to the Mediterranean diet would still save 3 billion tonnes. That is a saving of between 60% and 20% of all food emissions as which are currently at 13.7 billion tonnes of CO₂e a year.
The food we consume has a massive impact on our planet. Agriculture takes up half the habitable land on Earth, destroys forests and other ecosystems and produces a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Meat and dairy specifically accounts for around 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Changing what we eat can help reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainable farming.
If you’re a big meat eater you could start with Meatless Mondays or go for free range white meat only as your first step, it will help our planet and (recommended by WHO) your health too as we all eat too much red meat! We are also meant to eat meat only three times a week for our health and stop eating processed meat as its carcinogenic!
I (Michelle) went vegetarian 26 years ago and it wasn’t as easy as now. There are heaps of alternative plant-based meats available at our supermarkets. I love the vege patties and sausages so I can still join in a BBQ. Kiwi company has created chicken from pea protein – it needs added flavour just like meat chicken.
There are also a multitude of yummy vegetarian and vegan recipes online with plenty that are quick and easy. I left the whole soak the beans overnight years ago and just go for cans. Though I do make my hummus from scratch. It’s all about finding what works for you.
Try eating vegetarian at cafés and restaurants to work out what you like. Thankfully every food place now have vegetarian choices. When you have a BBQ add some vege kebabs, grill courgettes and eggplant. It opens up a whole new world of beautiful food.
My dad went from calling my vegetarian diet ‘rabbit food’ to pretty much eating vegetarian four or more nights a week. He doesn’t even think about it now – its just a nice meal (thanks to my mum’s great cooking and his own vege patch).
Some local Vegetarian restaurants - The Lotus Heart Welcome Cafe, Water Drop Vegetarian Cafe, Dux Dine
Other ideas- Food Bags, Fruit & Vege Delivery Boxes, buy sustainable fish...
#1 Plant-Based Diet
Water and Land use
To save our planet, we must also consider both water and land usage. Beef, for instance, needs about 15,000 litres of water per kilo.
Some vegetarian or vegan foods like avocados and almonds also have a huge water footprint, but overall a plant-based diet has about half the water consumption of a standard meat-based diet.
A global move away from meat would also free up a huge amount of land, since billions of animals would no longer have to be fed. Soya, for instance, is one of the world’s most common crops yet almost 80% of the world’s soybeans are fed to livestock.
The reduced need for agricultural land would help stop deforestation and help protect biodiversity. The land could also be used to reforest and rewild large areas which would become a natural store of carbon dioxide.
(Mostly) Healthier
A plant based diet is also generally healthier. Meat, especially highly processed meat, has been linked to a string of major health issues including high blood pressure, heart disease and cancer.
However, meat, dairy and fish are the main sources of some essential vitamins and minerals such as calcium, zinc, iodine and vitamin B12. A strict vegan diet can put people at risk of deficiencies unless they can have access to particular foods or take supplements. Yet both specialist food and supplements are too expensive for many people around the world and it would be hard to scale up supplements production to provide for billions of extra people.
So a climatarian or flexitarian approach means there are fewer health risks and also allows people to still exercise choice. One study suggests a move to a global plant-based diet could reduce global mortality by up to 10% by 2050.
Nine animals per person per year
One of the issues that seems to be lacking in many food discussions is the ethical dimension. Every year we slaughter 69 billion chickens, 1.5 billion pigs, 0.65 billion turkeys, 0.57 billion sheep, 0.45 billion goats, and 0.3 billion cattle. That is over nine animals killed for every person on the planet per year – all for nutrition and protein which we know can come from a plant-based diet.
So what is the ideal global diet to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce habitat destruction and help you live longer? Well I suggest being an “ultra-flexitarian” – a diet of mostly plant-based foods but one that allows meat and dairy products in extreme moderation, but red and processed meat are completely banned. This would save at least 5.5 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year (40% of all food emissions), decrease global mortality by 10% and prevent the slaughter of billions of innocent animals.
Edited version - Author Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science at UCL. The Conversation August 13, 2022
Consumption of meat and dairy, as well as overall calories, often exceeds nutritional recommendations. Paring down and favoring plant-based foods reduces demand, thereby reducing land clearing, fertilizer use, burping cattle, and greenhouse gas emissions.
The meat-centric Western diet on the rise globally. That diet comes with a steep climate price tag: one-fifth of global emissions. If cattle were their own nation, they would be the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
Plant-rich diets reduce emissions and also tend to be healthier, leading to lower rates of chronic disease. According to a 2016 study, business-as-usual emissions could be reduced by as much as 70 percent through adopting a vegan diet and 63 percent for a vegetarian diet, which includes cheese, milk, and eggs. $1 trillion in annual health-care costs and lost productivity would be saved.
If 50–75 percent of the world’s population restricts their diet to a healthy average 2,250 calories per day and reduces meat consumption overall, we estimate at least 43–68 gigatons of emissions could be avoided from dietary change alone. If avoided deforestation from land use change is included, an additional 21.8–23.5 gigatons of emissions could be avoided, making healthy, plant-rich diets one of the most impactful solutions at a total of 64.8–91.5 gigatons avoided.
A Plant-Rich Diet is #4 of Project Drawdown's 100 solutions to reverse global warming.
Could you have one more meatless meal a week?
The average Kiwi eats 40kg
of meat per year!
#noexcuses 2021 OECD Data