Adoption of the 'planetary health diet' has different impacts on countries' greenhouse gas emissions

Richard D Semba; Saskia de Pee; Brent Kim; Shawn McKenzie; Keeve Nachman; Martin W Bloem

doi:10.1038/s43016-020-0128-4

Adoption of the 'planetary health diet' has different impacts on countries' greenhouse gas emissions

Nat Food. 2020 Aug;1(8):481-484. doi: 10.1038/s43016-020-0128-4. Epub 2020 Aug 13.

Authors

Richard D Semba^{1

2}, Saskia de Pee³, Brent Kim^{4

5}, Shawn McKenzie^{4

5}, Keeve Nachman^{4

5}, Martin W Bloem^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. [email protected].
² Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. [email protected].
³ United Nations World Food Programme, Rome, Italy.
⁴ Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁵ Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.

PMID: 37128073
DOI: 10.1038/s43016-020-0128-4

Abstract

A worldwide shift from current diets to the planetary health diet proposed by the EAT-Lancet Commission would have direct implications for agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. By modelling the trajectory of food from cradle to farm gate while accounting for international trade, we estimate that agricultural GHG emissions would decrease in 101 countries as well as globally. Yet, in primarily low- and middle-income countries, agricultural GHG emissions would increase by 12-283%. Country-specific impacts of dietary transitions should be considered in climate change mitigation policy.