Additional references relating to the environmental impacts of meat and dairy consumption

Aleksandrowicz, L., Green, R., Joy, E. J. M., Smith, P., & Haines, A. 2016. The impacts of dietary change on greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water use, and health: a systematic review. PLoS ONE 11: e0165797.

Blaustein-Rejto, D., Soltis, N., & Blomqvist, L. 2023. Carbon opportunity cost increases carbon footprint advantage of grain-finished beef. PLoS ONE 18: e0295035.

Clark, M., & Tilman, D. 2017. Comparative analysis of environmental impacts of agricultural production systems, agricultural input efficiency, and food choice. Environmental Research Letters 12: 064016.

de Ruiter, H., Macdiarmid, J. I., Matthews, R. B., Kastner, T., Lynd, L. R., & Smith, P. 2017. Total global agricultural land footprint associated with UK food supply 1986–2011. Global Environmental Ehange 43: 72-81.

Eshel, G., Flamholz, A. I., Shepon, A., & Milo, R. 2025. US grass-fed beef is as carbon intensive as industrial beef and ≈10-fold more intensive than common protein-dense alternatives. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122: e2404329122.

FAO & WHO. 2019. Sustainable healthy diets: guiding principles. Food & Agriculture Organization, World Health Organization, Rome.

FAO. 2023. Pathways towards lower emissions – A global assessment of the greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation options from livestock agrifood systems. Food & Agriculture Organization, Rome.

Godfray, C. J., Aveyard, P., Garnett, T., Hall, J. W., Key, T. J., Lorimer, J., Pierrehumbert, R. T., Scarborough, P., Springmann, M., & Jebb, S. A. 2018. Meat consumption, health, and the environment. Science 361: eaam5324.

Hayek, M. N., Harwatt, H., Ripple, W. J., & Mueller, N.D. 2021. The carbon opportunity cost of animal-sourced food production on land. Nature Sustainability 4: 21-24.

IPCC. 2019. Special Report on Climate Change and Land. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland.

Kortleve, A., Behrens, P., Taherzadeh, O., & Mogollón, J. 2025. Dietary shifts reshape land use and farm economics in Europe. Available at Research Square; https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7543469/v1.

Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. 2018. Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science 360: 987-992.

Rabès, A., Seconda, L., Langevin, B., Allès, B., Touvier, M., Hercberg, S., Lairon, D., Baudry, J., Pointereau, P., & Kesse-Guyot, E. 2020. Greenhouse gas emissions, energy demand and land use associated with omnivorous, pesco-vegetarian, vegetarian, and vegan diets accounting for farming practices. Sustainable Production and Consumption 22: 138-146.

Scarborough, P., Clark, M., Cobiac, L., Papier, K., Knuppel, A., Lynch, J., Harrington, R., Key, T., & Springmann, M. 2023. Vegans, vegetarians, fish-eaters and meat-eaters in the UK show discrepant environmental impacts. Nature food 4: 565-574.

Scheelbeek, P., Green, R., Papier, K., Knuppel, A., Alae-Carew, C., Balkwill, A., Key, T. J., Beral, V. & Dangour, A. D. 2020. Health impacts and environmental footprints of diets that meet the Eatwell Guide recommendations: analyses of multiple UK studies. BMJ Open 10: p.e037554.

Schiermeier, Q. 2019. Eat less meat: UN climate-change report calls for change to human diet. Nature 572: 291-292.

Scherer, L., Behrens, P., & Tukker, A. 2019. Opportunity for a dietary win-win-win in nutrition, environment, and animal welfare. One Earth 1: 349-360.

Springmann, M., Spajic, L., Clark, M. A., Poore, J., Herforth, A., Webb, P., Rayner, M., & Scarborough, P. 2020. The healthiness and sustainability of national and global food based dietary guidelines: modelling study. Bmj 370; https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m2322.

Sun, Z., Scherer, L., Tukker, A., Spawn-Lee, S.A., Bruckner, M., Gibbs, H. K., & Behrens, P., 2022. Dietary change in high-income nations alone can lead to substantial double climate dividend. Nature Food 3: 29-37.

Westhoek, H., Lesschen, J. P., Rood, T., Wagner, S., De Marco, A., Murphy-Bokern, D., Leip, A., van Grinsven, H., Sutton, M. A., & Oenema, O. 2014. Food choices, health and environment: Effects of cutting Europe’s meat and dairy intake. Global Environmental Change 26: 196-205.

WWF. 2020. Bending the Curve: The Restorative Power of Planet-Based Diets. WWF, Gland, Switzerland.

WWF. 2022. Land of Plenty. A nature-positive pathway to decarbonise UK agriculture and land use. WWF, Gland, Switzerland.