This paper reviews the evidence on interventions that can increase or decrease consumption of animal-source foods. It finds that providing information on the environmental impacts of meat can reduce consumption, as can - to a more limited extent - providing information on health and animal welfare impacts, emphasising social norms such as trends towards plant-based eating, and reducing meat portion sizes.

This report from the WWF considers how agriculture and land use across the UK can be changed to help meet climate commitments while also protecting nature. The key components of its strategy are moving towards agroecological farming practices, tackling nitrogen pollution, restoring natural ecosystems in appropriate locations, and shifting diets. It calls for governments across the UK to support farming communities through financial support, regulation and strong trade standards.

This paper argues that animal-source foods are unjustly stigmatised as being harmful for health and the environment, and that nutritionism - focusing on the individual components of food rather than its broader benefits - is overly reductive. The paper criticises the use of narrow metrics such as emissions per kg of food, and instead calls for “wholesome and nourishing diets” rooted in values such as “conviviality and shared traditions”.

This progress report from the UK’s Food Foundation shows that UK businesses have served an additional 636 million portions of vegetables over the past four years, as part of the Peas Please initiative. The report features several case studies, including Sainsbury’s, Birds Eye, Food Cardiff, Lidl and Healthy Start, and the Community Supported Agriculture Network UK.

This paper quantifies the climate impacts of phasing out livestock production globally. It finds that ceasing animal agriculture could provide half of the net emissions reductions required to limit climate warming to 2°C, and argues that large cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from food production are likely to be necessary alongside emissions reductions in the transport and energy sectors. Both authors are shareholders of Impossible Foods, which is developing alternatives to livestock.

This report from the UK-based Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions quantifies greenhouse gas emissions arising from the UK’s food sector. It finds that when emissions are accounted for using a consumption basis (which accounts for emissions associated with imported and exported food), emissions are 52% higher than when a territorial basis is used (only including emissions generated within the country).

This report from the International Labour Organization and the Inter-American Development Bank examines the implications of net zero emissions policies for employment patterns in Latin America and the Caribbean. TABLE readers may be particularly interested in the report’s comments on jobs in agriculture and plant-based food production, as well as the impacts of dietary change.

This paper looks at the climate impacts of dietary shift towards plant-based foods in high-income nations. It finds that adoption of the EAT-Lancet diet in 54 countries could both reduce annual agricultural production emissions from those countries by 61%, and spare land that could sequester carbon equivalent to 14 years of current global agricultural emissions, through restoration to the natural vegetation associated with today’s climate in each location.

This video from German animation studio Kurzgesagt takes a balanced look at the debates around the environmental impacts of meat. It draws on some TABLE resources including Grazed and Confused (our report on the question of soil carbon sequestration by grazing livestock) and our explainer Soy: food, feed, and land use change. Kurzegesagt’s video We lied to you… and we’ll do it again is also worth a watch for an overview of how they balance simplification and accuracy when communicating complex topics.