'Vegan or Bust' Isn't Helping: Why Simply Reducing Meat Consumption Matters Too
New research from Oxford University reveals the differences in environmental impact amongst different dietary types. Our Marketing & Communications Lead Jocelyn Doyle explores why this topic needs a more nuanced approach than that taken by many media outlets reporting on this study.
Published last week in Nature Food, new research from Oxford University assessed data from 55,504 people to reveal the differences in environmental impact amongst multiple types of diet: omnivore (broken down into high, medium, low meat), pescatarian, vegetarian and vegan. It also used data from 38,000 farms in 119 countries to account for differing impacts amongst particular foods produced in different places using different methods. The environment impacts covered were climate, land use, water use, water pollution and biodiversity loss.
The study concluded that:
“There is a strong relationship between the amount of animal-based foods in a diet and its environmental impact, including GHG emissions, land use, water use, eutrophication and biodiversity. Dietary shifts away from animal-based foods can make a substantial contribution to reduction of the UK environmental footprint.”
While it’s hardly breaking news that diets high in meat carry the biggest environmental impact, this comprehensive piece of research revealed a number of interesting data points around what it means to reduce, rather than eliminate, our consumption of meat.
Adopting a lower meat diet can halve your impact
Look at the finer details around the impact of smaller changes, the shades of grey between staunch vegan and insatiable carnivore. For example, lower meat diets (50g or less per day) carry half the carbon, water pollution and land use impact of those high in meat (100g or more per day). While vegan diets were found to have half the impact again compared to the lower meat diets, variations in impact amongst low-meat, pescetarian and vegetarian diets were relatively small.
Think about the implications of this: if you currently eat an average of 100g or more of meat per day and you can cut this to 50g – whether that’s through implementing meat-free meals or meat-free days of the week, only eating meat when you’re out in a restaurant or on a special occasion, or simply treating meat as a side or garnish, rather than centre plate – you're slashing the climate impact of your diet IN HALF. For the environmental impacts measured other than carbon, a lower meat diet is still somewhere around 30% less impactful than one with a high amount of meat.
Professor Peter Scarborough, who led the study at Oxford, illustrated this point by saying that if every meat eater in the UK cut their intake to less than 50g a day, the effect would be equivalent to taking eight million cars off the road. That is nothing to be sniffed at.
Division does us no favours
Media coverage of this study has been somewhat reductionist. “Veganism is ‘single biggest way’ to reduce our environmental impact, study finds” says the headline by The Independent. From The Guardian, “Vegan diet massively cuts environmental damage, study shows”. Obviously, it’s not possible for every publication to delve deep into an academic paper like this – nor is it warranted, particularly for consumer-facing media. That said, many of the findings from this research have relatively nuanced implications, and headlines that boil it down to “vegan good, meat bad” – while no doubt good at attracting clicks – are somewhat missing the point. We need a new narrative.
To my mind, the takeaway here should be that we all have the power to effect change through even moderate dietary alterations – it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. While it is certainly true that widespread adoption of vegetarian and vegan diets would be hugely beneficial for the environment, the marketability of these ways of eating is limited. There remains a significant portion of the population for whom giving up animal products entirely is simply, and permanently, off the table. Otherwise, based on the thousands of already extant articles that outline the benefits of meat-free eating, we would all be vegans already. Pushing headlines like this does nothing for the cause and merely serves to polarise further an issue that is already divisive; if we want to get everyone on board, the message simply cannot be ‘vegan or bust’. Instead, rich data like those provided by this study should be used to inspire people, businesses and governments to implement, promote and support achievable change – less meat, but better. Not only is this an easier sell, but less drastic lifestyle changes are more likely to become long-term habits.
Our results show that if everyone in the UK who is a big meat-eater reduced the amount of meat they ate, it would make a really big difference. You don't need to completely eradicate meat from your diet.
– Professor Peter Scarborough, Oxford University, talking to BBC News
Observe due measure
The report shows that vegetarians and vegans are younger than other groups, suggesting that there is a generational shift already paving our way for a better, more climate-friendly diet. As this gradually becomes ‘the norm’, our focus in the meantime should be on encouraging the die-hard meat lovers amongst us to make smaller changes that can have a big impact. The underdog here is moderation: a flexitarian diet that includes more plants, with meat in smaller quantities but from environmentally superior sources. When it comes to our consumption of animal products, we need to adopt the notion espoused by the Greek poet Hesiod as far back as 700BCE: “observe due measure; moderation is best in all things.”
We know that consumers cannot lead the charge on this; dietary choices are heavily affected by what is available and affordable within a food environment, and how it’s marketed. As the researchers themselves said, the UK should introduce policies to help people reduce the amount of meat they eat in order to meet the nation’s climate targets.
We need government-led policies – echoed by industry initiatives – that encourage a reduction in meat-eating across our plates; across the UK; across the wealthy, Western world.
What scale of change could be effected in a world where policymakers and leaders emphasise the potential impact of eating less meat, but better? Imagine a world in which fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains are the most affordable and accessible options for everyone; where marketing efforts around meat-containing products are minimised as a matter of policy; where restaurants and other food environments dish up mouth-watering meals that are predominantly plant-based, perhaps with small amounts of sustainable meat scattered across the menu.
Those eight million cars could be just the beginning.
Interested in learning more about building your menu for a sustainable future? Learn why “More Plants, Better Meat” is one of the 10 key focus areas in our Food Made Good Framework. If your business is ready to implement real, lasting change, sign up for the Food Made Good Standard today.
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Jocelyn leads our Marketing & Comms team and is responsible for managing our content strategy, growing our audience and building our global reputation. Jocelyn holds a BSc in Hospitality Management and an MSc in Food Culture & Communications, and is a member of the Irish Food Writers’ Guild. Her background includes on-the-ground F&B experience; a decade of food writing, editing and publishing; content creation for some of Ireland’s biggest food brands; and developing the content marketing strategy for a suite of menu management and carbon tracking software.
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