The Food System’s Environmental Impact
The global food system significantly contributes to environmental degradation, accounting for 21-37% of total anthropogenic GGEs3, using approximately half of Earth’s habitable land4, and consuming over 70% of global freshwater withdrawals5. The Traditional Western Pattern Diet (WPD), characterized by high meat, dairy, and processed food consumption6, carries a particularly heavy ecological burden. In contrast, vegan diets demonstrate 50-75% lower GGEs, 75% lower land use, and 50% lower eutrophication potential than high-meat diets7. While complexities exist, evidence strongly points to ecological advantages in shifting toward plant-centric eating.
A person eating a plant-based diet requires 60-80% less agricultural land to sustain their diets than an omnivore8, because instead of growing food to feed livestock, the plant-based food goes directly to humans. The vast majority of vegans chose this lifestyle for animal rights and not environmental reasons: 68% vs 9.7%9. Regardless of the intentions for choosing a vegan diet, the beneficial impacts on climate justice are the same. The graph below provides an overview of GGEs per kg of food product for various vegan and non-vegan foodstuffs10.
The global food system significantly contributes to environmental degradation, accounting for 21-37% of total anthropogenic GGEs3, using approximately half of Earth’s habitable land4, and consuming over 70% of global freshwater withdrawals5. The Traditional Western Pattern Diet (WPD), characterized by high meat, dairy, and processed food consumption6, carries a particularly heavy ecological burden. In contrast, vegan diets demonstrate 50-75% lower GGEs, 75% lower land use, and 50% lower eutrophication potential than high-meat diets7. While complexities exist, evidence strongly points to ecological advantages in shifting toward plant-centric eating.
A person eating a plant-based diet requires 60-80% less agricultural land to sustain their diets than an omnivore8, because instead of growing food to feed livestock, the plant-based food goes directly to humans. The vast majority of vegans chose this lifestyle for animal rights and not environmental reasons: 68% vs 9.7%9. Regardless of the intentions for choosing a vegan diet, the beneficial impacts on climate justice are the same. The graph below provides an overview of GGEs per kg of food product for various vegan and non-vegan foodstuffs10.
Climate Justice: Basel in the World is a colloquium at the University of Basel, co-organized in the spring semester 2025 by students from the AG Nachhaltigkeit and Prof. Dr. Janina Grabs. It is supported through funding by Impuls.