Transforming our food system could save trillions of dollars annually, while also slashing greenhouse gas emissions, ensuring future food security and preventing 40,000 premature deaths each day, reports US broadcaster ABC News.
A coalition of 70 experts in nutrition, climate, economics, health and agriculture from over 35 countries has produced what they called “the most comprehensive global scientific evaluation of food systems to date,” released last Thursday by the 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission. It outlines the Planetary Health Diet (PHD), a set of dietary guidelines that emphasise plant-based eating while also allowing for moderate consumption of animal proteins like meat and eggs.
These changes would not only improve individual health, they could also dramatically change our impact on the environment by reducing agricultural emissions and other harms generated by the current food system.
“How we produce and consume food affects the air we breathe, the water we drink, the soil that grows our crops and the health and dignity of workers and communities,” Johan Rockström, a commission co-chair and director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told ABC. “Addressing these interconnected problems requires systemic and coordinated global action.”
[See more: Forget fossil fuels, the meat and dairy industries are the real climate culprits, study finds]
Far from a one-size-fits-all solution, the diet is flexible enough to adapt to cultural differences and individual preferences. The plant-based menu includes a serving of nuts and legumes, three to five servings of whole grains and five servings of fruits and vegetables daily.
Those who wish to continue eating animal proteins can still have meat up to five times a week, as well as three to four eggs. Like any diet, they call for strict limits on added sugars, saturated fats and salt.
The report offers several recommendations that will make following the diet easier and more affordable, like using taxes to price-in the environmental and health costs of unhealthy food, as well as shifting agricultural subsidies toward healthier and more sustainable foods. By transforming our food system, Rockström told ABC, we “can cut global emissions [from food] by more than half.” The current system, the report found, is a primary contributor to the breaching of five of the nine planetary boundaries – thresholds past which critical planetary functions break down.
Our current food system also carries steep economic costs. The report estimated that related healthcare and environmental damages cost society around US$15 trillion each year. A fraction of that, US$200 to US$500 billion, could transform the system, save up to 15 million lives annually and ensure the health of the planet.
