by Almost everyone on the planet could have access to nutritious, culturally suitable food by 2050 – while the environment is improved – if countries work together to implement a “planetary health diet”, has established a new report.
By taking on a healthy, planet-friendly diet with reducing food loss and waste and stimulating the agricultural productivity-to-date around 9.6 billion people in 2050 “Feedy and fair” food, according to the report published on Thursday by the 2025 Eat-Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets. (EAT stands for involvement, acting, transforming.)
According to the United Nations, there are currently more than 8.2 billion people on the planet.
These changes can also help to reduce the annual greenhouse gas emissions of global food systems by more than half, according to the Eat-Lancet Commission, a group of leading experts in agriculture, climate, economy, health and food of more than 35 countries on six continents.
About 30% of the global emissions of Gashouse come from the breeding, processing and transport of food and the conversion of wooded country into agriculture – the other 70% comes from fossil fuel consumption, according to the report.
“A diet that is good for both people and the planet, focuses on fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes and full grains and a moderate amount of meat and dairy products and very little added sugar, saturated fat and salt,” said co-chairman of the committee.
When it comes to meat and dairy products, think one plus one, Willett said – one daily portion of dairy, such as milk or yogurt, along with one daily portion of an animal protein such as fish, poultry, eggs or meat. Red meat (beef, lamb and pork) should only be limited once a week to a 4-essence that, however, because of its impact on overall health.
“This diet does not eliminate meat and dairy products, and it is not a deprivation diet,” Willett told CNN. “It looks a lot like the Mediterranean diet and keeps dairy once a day, red meat to once a week and eggs, poultry and fish up to about twice a week.”
The path to change, however, is about more than eating healthy food, said Co-chairman of the Johan Rockström committee, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and professor of Earth System Sciences at the University of Potsdam in Germany.
“It is also necessary to reduce food waste and switch to sustainable soil, water, nutrition and ecosystem management practices- you have to invest in all these at the same time,” said Rockström during a press conference on Tuesday. “You have to choose to produce healthy food that is affordable and accessible to all people. That’s why this is a pretty challenge.”
Reducing meat production, while stimulating the consumption of plants is an important way to improve the health of the planet and its inhabitants. – Fetrinka/Istockphoto/Getty
A pro-meatback
The Landmark Eat-Lancet Commission report was first published in 2019. At that time, like now, the Lancet Medical Journal collaborated with the non-profit eat and dozens of international researchers to determine how food producers could feed the growing world population without further damaging the environment.
In 2019, the committee estimated that if the planetary health diet was assumed worldwide, up to 11.6 million premature deaths can be avoided every year by improving diet and reducing the risk of diabetes, heart conditions and other diet-related diseases.
With the help of advanced modeling methods, the updated 2025 report estimated global use of the diet can prevent around 15 million premature deaths every year. In the United States alone, “about 31% of early deaths for adults can be avoided,” said Willett.
Changing the planet’s food system can also save $ 5 trillion a year by restoring ecosystems, reducing health costs and slowing down the effects of the climate crisis, according to the 2025 report. That figure is more than 10 times the investment of $ 200 billion to $ 500 billion to reach the worldwide effort.
CNN contacted the National Institute for Animal Agriculture, which represents the American dairy and cattle industry, but received no response before publication.
According to the members of the committee, however, a negative response to the new publication has already started, reminiscent of what they described as a coordinated return followed on the publication of the EAT-Lancet report 2019.
“We all share the same concern in the committee about this return of what I would call mis- and disinformation and denial of climate science,” Rockström said in the briefing.
Research reports have described how the hashtag #yestomeeat was used to distribute distrust in the findings of the 2019 committee. A study published in the Lancet in 2019 has dismissed the use of “conspiracy theories” and “personal attacks” on committee members by #yosteat Detractors.
“The last time a orchestrated attempt was made and this time … mainly from groups that are closely coordinated and are really part of the beef industry, also part of the dairy industry,” Willett said at the briefing.
In addition, the “Make America Ryany Again” or Maha, movement led by the American health and human service secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Embraces a “more animal -oriented diet”, while also information about the effects of cattle on the environment and global warming, Willett.
“That is a reason why this report is really important because it is not censored,” he added. “It is based on the best scientific evidence of all over the world.”
Modeling of the future
If things remain as they are, farmers continue to increase the production of food, more forests are converted into land for animal feed and greenhouse gases created by agriculture rise 33%, according to the 2025 EAT-Lancet report. Almost 70% of the planet’s ecore regions have lost more than 50% of their natural areas, usually to agriculture, according to the report.
However, transforming the global food system can reduce the expected greenhouse emissions by around 60% compared to 2020 levels, according to the committee. The number of cattle would fall by 26% with a corresponding reduction of 11% devoted to grazing.
“That is a huge, fundamental point,” said Willett, “because it means we can stop chopping the Amazon to grow more soy and other crops to feed with animals. That happens at an alarming pace.”
On the other hand, the production of water food could rise by 46%, with the market for vegetables increasing by 42%. Fruit production can be stimulated with 61%, nuts with 172%and legumes with 187%. In general, food prices in this scenario would fall by approximately 3%.
A variety of tools to achieve change
Currently, the richest 30% of the planet population is responsible for “more than 70% of all food -related environmental effects”, while less than 1% are in a situation in which their rights and food needs are met without damaging the environment, committee member Christina Hicks, professor of political ecology at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom, said in the letter.
That is why reducing the impact of food production on the planet will also make enough to feed the world population, planning and coordinated effort between countries, Hicks said.
To complete the task, the committee suggested a number of possible actions. Granting for agricultural production can be shifted from meat and dairy products to more planet -friendly vegetables, fruit, legumes and grains in an attempt to make those healthy but more sustainable options more affordable, said the Gordon member line, Curt Bergfors professor in sustainability science and director of the Stockholm Resilience Center Resilience.
Stretching food with high sugar, salt and saturated fat content and limiting marketing for those foods can be combined with regulations on “marketing of foods, especially towards children, and also warning labels on unhealthy food,” Gordon said in the briefing.
“We also emphasize (it) is not only about getting the prices lower, but it is also about inserting the purchase break so that people afford a healthy diet,” Gordon added.
Protecting and promoting vegetable traditional diets around the world is another important way to move the needle when protecting the environment while the food is stimulated, Willett said.
“We do not dictate specifically that fits for each other,” he said CNN. “The planetary health diet provides great diversity and is very in line with traditional diets around the world. Some may need a few tweaks, but it is very executable.”
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