Saving Lives and the Planet: Balancing Diet with Alternative Proteins Can Cut Deaths by 5% and Emissions by 25%

-New research by the Oxford Martin School for the World Economic Forum finds that balancing meat consumption with alternative sources of protein can lead to significant health and environmental benefits

-A sustainable food industry and healthier human life can be achieved through further innovation in the development of alternative proteins, livestock production and consumer behaviour

-Commitment exists across business, government and civil society to ensure transformation of the food system while preserving the livelihood of hundreds of millions of livestock farmers around the world

-Read the full report here.

 
Geneva, Switzerland,

Meeting the world’s growing demand for protein nutrition through sources of protein other than meat could prevent millions of unnecessary deaths per year and drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to new research conducted by the Oxford Martin School for the World Economic Forum. The research, published today in the report Alternative Proteins  also finds that the nutritional needs for a future world population of 10 billion can be met sustainably, and with positive health consequences, through a combination of innovative protein sources, improved production systems and changed consumer behaviour.

The report is unique in its focus on both the human health and environmental impacts of meat consumption. For human health, the research finds that switching from beef – the base case of the analysis – to other protein sources could reduce the overall global burden of diet-related deaths by 2.4%, with that number climbing to 5% in high- and upper-middle-income countries.

This will be increasingly important given the projected demand for meat from emerging middle classes.
Saving Lives and the Planet: Balancing Diet with Alternative Proteins Can Cut Deaths by 5% and Emissions by 25%