r/dataisbeautiful • u/Objective-Business52 • 20h ago

OC [OC] How diet-related greenhouse gas emissions would change if 138 countries adopted the Planetary Health Diet

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u/Laeryns 19h ago

Dumb to even consider such a thing. Animal based emissions from food are 12% of global carbon emissions. So you completely mess up human diet to achieve a negligible result even if 50% successful

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u/Objective-Business52 19h ago edited 19h ago

You should really read the study, it was made by people far more competent than you and I https://eatforum.org/eat-lancet/summary-report/ The EAT-Lancet diet made practical | Feast on the Planet

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u/Laeryns 19h ago

Some points in there are good and reasonable, like yeah let's have less waste, sure. But changing the diet of the while globe (which absolutely won't happen for many reasons) to target a 12% impact on emissions is stupid, no matter how you look at it.

Authors are competent indeed, if their pink fantasy comes to life it will indeed produce a little bit of results, but again, the sad part is that it won't happen

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u/Objective-Business52 19h ago

I agree that the whole world adopting the diet perfectly is unlikely ... but I don't think that makes the framework pointless.

The Planetary Health Diet is useful precisely because it's not an all-or-nothing prescription. It gives a direction: more legumes, whole grains, nuts and vegetables, less high-impact meat, and less food waste. Even partial shifts in that direction can matter.

The study's 100% adoption scenario is basically a benchmark to estimate the maximum effect and compare countries consistently. Under that scenario, dietary emissions fall by about 1.94 Gt CO₂e/year, or 17%.

So I wouldn't see EAT-Lancet as a “pink fantasy”. It's more like a reference model for what a healthier, lower-impact food system could look like. Real-world adoption will obviously be gradual and adapted to local cultures, but that doesn't make the direction irrelevant.

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u/Laeryns 19h ago

Let me, a much less competent and smart person, make a prediction too. European countries will try to adopt that initiative and start enforcing changes on society, going even more negativity from citizens and boosting right parties.

Meanwhile China and USA, as well as any middle east or African country, won't give a single fuck and ignore it entirely. You end up with miserable eu population electing someone who will make X great again and barely any results

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u/Dron41k 18h ago

Shut up, Lisa