A new UK study assessed the environmental impact of high-meat, low-meat, vegetarian and vegan diets, conclusively showing that avoiding animal products has significant benefits for the planet.
Described as the most detailed study of its kind, the study looked at the actual eating habits of 55,000 people, as opposed to using model diets like many previous reports. It found that a low-meat diet has half the emissions and land use of a high-meat diet, while adopting a vegetarian diet can halve these figures again – a total reduction of 75%.
Plant-based diets were also shown to reduce water use by 54%, wildlife destruction by 66% and methane production by 93%. Overall, the study concluded that if everyone in the UK ate less meat, the reduction in emissions would be equivalent to taking 8 million cars off the road.
Furthermore, the study found that a food’s environmental impact mostly comes down to its type, rather than where or how it was produced. For example, organic and locally grown meat can still have a bigger impact than imported grains.
“a big difference”
The British meat industry has tried to fight the results by claiming that carbon is sequestered on farmland. However, study author Professor Peter Scarborough of Oxford University said that this effect proved to be very small, and that revitalizing former farmland had far more positive effects.
The new research supports the findings of a previous study conducted by Oxford University, with a 2019 paper showing that avoiding animal products can reduce a person’s carbon footprint by 73%. Another study the following year found that emissions from the food industry would make it impossible to limit global warming to 1.5 or even 2 degrees Celsius if nothing was changed.
“Our dietary choices have a big impact on the planet. Reducing the amount of meat and dairy in your diet can make a big difference to your diet,” Professor Scarborough told The Guardian.