Carbon
About 75% smaller climate footprint
75%Less climate-heating emissions vs high-meat
Food causes about 26% of the world’s greenhouse gases[4], and 57% of food emissions come from animal products and the crops grown to feed farm animals, twice as much as plant foods[5]. Vegan diets cut climate-heating emissions by about 75% compared with high-meat diets[1][2]. What you eat matters far more than where it comes from[3], so even vegan food shipped from across the world beats local meat. If you cared about the climate, you would stop eating animals.
What the evidence says
The main points first. Every claim is tied to a source below.
Our World in Data · Poore & Nemecek (2018)
Animal foods account for most of the food system’s climate emissions
When Xu and colleagues broke down the global food system’s emissions, about 57% of its climate-heating gases came from animal foods, including their feed, and about 29% from plant foods[1]. To eat animals, we first have to grow plants for them. The animals then turn most of those calories into body heat, poop, and methane, a gas that traps heat in the air, and about 80% of farmland is tied up in that loop[2][3]. Eating plants directly skips the extra step.
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Our World in Data · Environmental impacts of food production
Food production causes over a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions
According to Our World in Data, food production is responsible for over a quarter (26%) of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions[1][2]. A large share of that comes from farm animals: the methane they produce, their manure, and the land cleared to grow their feed[1][2].
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Our World in Data · Poore & Nemecek (2018)
Vegan diets produce about 75% less greenhouse gas than high-meat diets
In a Nature Food study of about 55,000 people in the UK, vegan diets produced about 75% less greenhouse gas than high-meat diets (100 grams of meat a day or more)[1][2]. Vegan diets also caused less water pollution and used less land[1].
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Our World in Data · You want to reduce the carbon footprint of your food? Focus on what you eat, not whether your food is local
Eating local doesn’t help if you’re eating animals
For most meals, choosing plant foods over animal foods matters more for the climate than food miles[1], and Poore and Nemecek’s global meta-analysis found that avoiding meat and dairy is the single biggest way to cut a meal’s climate impact[2]. Raising an animal takes so many resources and so much energy that buying it locally doesn’t help. Vegan food from across the world is still magnitudes more efficient, because plants need very little by comparison and farm animals are fed plants anyway. A cow can eat over 100 pounds of plant food[5] and drink over 40 gallons of water a day[3][4].
Read full article →Articles
Vegan diets have about a 75% smaller climate footprint
Vegan diets produce about 75% less greenhouse gas than high-meat diets, according to a large UK study. Most of the food system’s emissions come from animal foods, and what you eat matters far more than how far it traveled.
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Sources
Papers and datasets. Each card keeps its caveats, including small samples and single-animal cases.
[1]Nature Food, 2023 · Observational
UK vegans had about 75% less climate and land impact than heavy meat-eaters
In a study of about 55,000 people in the UK, vegan diets produced about 75% fewer greenhouse gas emissions and used about 75% less land than high-meat diets (100 g of meat or more a day). They also caused 73% less water pollution, used 54% less water, and did 66% less damage to biodiversity.
[2]Yale Environment 360 · Observational
Vegan diets produce about 75% fewer climate-heating emissions than high-meat diets
Yale Environment 360’s summary of the Nature Food study reports that vegan diets produced about 75% fewer climate-heating emissions than high-meat diets.
[3]Our World in Data · Review
What you eat matters more than whether it’s local
Our World in Data shows that for most meals, whether you eat plants or animals matters more than how far the food traveled.
[4]Science · Meta-analysis
Avoiding meat and dairy is the biggest way to cut your food’s footprint
Poore and Nemecek found that avoiding meat and dairy is the single biggest way to cut your food’s climate, land, and water impact, and it does more than buying local or organic.
[5]Nature Food, 2021 · Observational
Animal foods cause twice the greenhouse gas emissions of plant foods
Xu and colleagues found that 57% of the food system’s greenhouse gas emissions come from animal-based foods, including their feed, and 29% from plant-based foods.