Vegans, vegetarians, fish-eaters and meat-eaters in the UK show discrepant environmental impacts

Modelled dietary scenarios often fail to reflect true dietary practice and do not account for variation in the environmental burden of food due to sourcing and production methods. Here we link dietary data from a sample of 55,504 vegans, vegetarians, fish-eaters and meat-eaters with food-level data on greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water use, eutrophication risk and potential biodiversity loss from a review of 570 life-cycle assessments covering more than 38,000 farms in 119 countries. Our results include the variation in food production and sourcing that is observed in the review of life-cycle assessments. All environmental indicators showed a positive association with amounts of animal-based food…

• W
  Wellcome

  Award: 205212/Z/16/Z
• WT
  Wellcome Trust

  Awards: 205212, 205212/Z/16/Z
• CR
  Cancer Research UK

  Awards: A29186, C570/A16491 and A29186, A29017, C570/A16491, C8221/A29017, MR/M012190/1
• NI
  National Institute for Health and Care Research

  Awards: C570/A16491, MR/M012190/1
• UO
  University of Oxford
• UO
  University of Edinburgh
• MR
  Medical Research Council

  Awards: M012190/1, C570/A16491, MR/M012190, MR/M012190/1, MR/M012190/1