Can Eating Healthy Save the Planet?

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Climate change isn't just about the weather. It's affecting our food system in ways many of us never see. It is causing lower crop yields, disrupted transportation, and rising food prices, deepening food insecurity across the world.

On the flip side, the food system isn't just a victim of climate change; it's also one of its biggest drivers, contributing to roughly a third of global greenhouse gas emissions.

With about 8 billion people currently on the planet, it's widely accepted that the Earth already produces enough food to feed everyone, yet hunger persists. And the pressure is only going to grow because the global population is projected to reach around 10 billion by 2050. This is just a few decades from now.

Faced with this, the EAT-Lancet Commission, a group of renowned scientists from around the world, set out to answer one critical question: how do we feed the world, now and in the future, without breaking the planet?

Current events make it seem like we have reached a breaking point.

Floods and record-high heatwaves are becoming more frequent and more severe across the globe, and it makes us wonder if Earth has reached its limit. But the EAT-Lancet Commission's answer is quite simple: eating healthy and eating responsibly might just be the key to keeping the planet and ourselves flourishing.

Their recommended diet centres on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and modest amounts of animal-based protein. Here's how that translates into real, everyday choices.

1. Limit Meat, Dairy, and Eggs

Livestock production is a major source of methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term. It also puts significant strain on water supplies, and farm waste run-off contributes to biodiversity loss in rivers, lakes, and oceans. Cutting back on animal-based foods, even by a little, can meaningfully reduce our food system's environmental footprint.

2. Choose Unsaturated Fats

Unsaturated fats are oils that stay liquid at room temperature, commonly found in nuts and seeds. Choosing these over saturated fats, like butter and cheese, eases the pressure on land, water, and other resources used in animal-based food production, while also supporting local farming systems that grow oil crops.

3. Avoid Refined Grains, Added Sugar, and Ultra-Processed Foods

These foods tend to carry a much bigger carbon footprint, largely due to intensive factory processing, chemical manufacturing, and long-distance transportation. The food industry is also one of the biggest users of single-use plastic packaging, and the demand for cheap starch and sugar crops drives deforestation and biodiversity loss through large-scale industrial monoculture farming.

4. Minimize Food Waste

Landfills are one of the largest sources of methane emissions worldwide, and food waste is a major contributor. When food is wasted, it's not just the food itself that's lost; the labour, water, land, and energy that went into growing it are wasted too. Cutting down on food waste starts with resisting over-consumption, producing only what's actually needed, and using preservation techniques and technologies to help food last longer.

The Bottom Line

A healthy diet is not just for our health alone; it is an action towards building a better Earth for all of us. Eating healthier and more responsibly won't solve climate change on its own, but according to the EAT-Lancet Commission, it's one of the most powerful levers we have. And unlike a lot of climate solutions, this one starts at your next meal.