Environmental News Network - Vegan Diets Have One-Fourth the Climate Impact of Meat-Heavy Diets, Study Finds

Details: By Yale Environment 360; 21.Jul

A plant-based diet yields one-fourth as much heat-trapping gas as a diet rich in meat, according to an exhaustive new analysis.

Cheryl Porter

A plant-based diet yields one-fourth as much heat-trapping gas as a diet rich in meat, according to an exhaustive new analysis.

For the study, researchers analyzed the eating habits of more than 55,000 Britons, drawing on data from more than 38,000 farms in 119 countries to gauge the environmental impact of their diets. Richard Tiffin, an economist at the University of Reading who was not involved with the research, said the study “represents the most comprehensive attempt to link food consumption data to the data on the environmental impacts of food production.”

The analysis found that plant-based diets produce 75 percent less heat-trapping gas, generate 75 percent less water pollution, and use 75 percent less land than meat-rich diets — those that include at least 100 grams of meat daily, the equivalent of one steak around the size of a deck of cards.

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Vegan Diets Have One-Fourth the Climate Impact of Meat-Heavy Diets, Study Finds