Land Use
Last updated
Last updated
Meat and dairy provide just 18% of calories and 37% of protein, but uses 83% of farmland. If we were to all go vegan, global farmland use could be reduced by more than 75% – an area equivalent to the US, China, European Union and Australia combined – and still feed the world.
"Systematic reviews consistently demonstrate that production of animal-based foods has a higher impact than predominantly plant-based diets on the environment, as measured by GHGe (7,59,93–95), land use (59,72,94), and water use (59,94). The production of ruminant livestock (e.g., cows, sheep, goats) has the largest impact within the category of animal-based foods. Therefore, dietary patterns which are lower in animal-based foods have a lesser impact on the environment. In multiple studies worldwide, vegan, vegetarian (72) and “healthy” diets (which are defined according to study parameters) (72,93,96) have been shown to be more sustainable than diets typically consumed by the reference scenarios based on the average per capita consumption data in multiple countries. Further, studies in highly developed countries are also consistent in illustrating that dietary patterns that followed (healthier) national dietary guidelines were more environmentally sustainable than average dietary patterns or intakes of the respective populations (97)." "Current scientific consensus (4,5,7) suggests that an overall population shift toward plant-based proteins will have the greatest effect on environmental outcomes (climate change, land, energy and water use)"