‘Planetary health diet’ could save 40,000 deaths a day

Key findings of the 2025 Report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change: Climate change action offers a lifeline.

"The diet – which allows moderate meat consumption – and related measures  would also slash the food-related emissions driving global heating by half by 2050. Today, a third of greenhouse gas emissions come from the  global food system and taming the climate crisis is impossible without  changing how the world eats, the researchers said. Food production is also the biggest cause of the destruction of wildlife and forests and the pollution of water.  

The planetary health diet (PHD) sets out how the world can  simultaneously improve the health of people and the planet, and provide  enough food for an expected global population of 9.6 billion people by  2050. " The Guardian

"In terms of steps to move towards the planetary diet, Gordon listed  actions such as changing taxes to make healthy foods more affordable,  clearly labelling foods and shifting agricultural production subsidies  towards healthier foods.

Although cropland will have to expand to account for the increased  intake of fruits, vegetables and legumes, the decrease in land needed  for livestock-rearing means that agricultural land use will fall overall  by 3.4m km2, an area the size of India." Carbon Brief

Recommended reading options

• Visual report: https://lancetcountdown.org/2025-report-visual-summary/

• The Conversation  More veg, less meat: the latest global update on a diet that’s good for people and the planet

• The Guardian: ‘Planetary health diet’ could save 40,000 deaths a day, landmark report finds 

• ABC New global diet advice: Fill your plate with veggies

• Carbon Brief: EAT-Lancet report: Three key takeaways on climate and diet change

• Full report: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01201-2/abstract

Some points from the visual report (link 1 above):

• The health threats of climate change have reached concerning, unprecedented levels. Delays in taking climate change action are resulting in millions of avoidable deaths every year

• On average, 84% of the heatwave days that people faced annually between 2020 and 2024 would not have occurred without climate change and heat-related mortality has increased by 63% since the 1990s, to a yearly average of 546,000 deaths in 2012–2021 

• 123.7 million more people experience moderate or severe food insecurity associated with an increase in droughts and heatwaves, compared to 1981-2010.

• Exposure to wildfire smoke led to an estimated 154,000 deaths in 2024 in addition to the impacts of climate change, the failure to transition to clean energy sources also led to 2.5 million deaths from fossil fuel-derived outdoor air pollution in 2022.

• Deaths related to unhealthy diets reached 11·8 million deaths in 2022, including 1·9 million deaths from excessive red meat and dairy intake. 

• The failure to tackle climate change is also harming health indirectly, by harming livelihoods and affecting the economic conditions on which health depends.

• Heat exposure is reducing labour productivity, and caused associated potential income losses equivalent to US$1.09 trillion in 2024.

• Even as world leaders threaten to reverse progress to date, the evidence reveals the life-saving potential of the progress already delivered, and local action is shaping a healthier future.