EAT-Lancet’s 2025 Report Says Food Systems Could Decide the Planet’s Future

The newly released 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission has issued its boldest call yet for a global shift in how we eat, arguing that a widespread move toward plant-rich diets could avert up to 15 million premature deaths each year and slash food system greenhouse gas emissions by more than half. The updated Planetary Health Diet (PHD) anchors the report’s urgent case: change food, change the world.

From this top-level assertion, the report unfolds a detailed integration of health, environmental, and social data, mapping how existing diets are pushing humanity beyond planetary boundaries. It asserts that global food systems now drive five of nine Earth-system thresholds already breached and warns that without systemic intervention, food alone could push global warming past 1.5 degrees Celsius—even if fossil fuel emissions fall. Its modeling suggests that shifting agriculture, reducing food waste, and realigning diets could bring the food system back within a “safe and just” operating space.

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In health terms, the report compares current dietary patterns to the PHD and estimates a 27-percent reduction in premature deaths globally if adoption occurred. It also points out that billions worldwide lack access to nutritious diets, with more than half the global population unable to regularly access healthy eating.

Justice is at the core of the commission’s framing: it highlights that the wealthiest 30 percent of the population are responsible for over 70 percent of food-system environmental harm, even as many workers in agriculture and food processing lack decent wages, protections, or voice. The commission asserts that transformation must not only optimize diets but also equitably distribute the burdens and benefits of change. 

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In response, ProVeg International, a food awareness organization, lauded the renewed emphasis on plant-rich diets but cautioned that adoption will require far more than new nutritional targets. “It is clear there is still much work to be done to ensure countries incorporate the recommendations of this diet into their national dietary guidelines together with an effective implementation strategy,” said ProVeg CEO Jasmijn de Boo. She added that healthy food environments—and policies that shift how food is marketed, sold, and subsidized—are indispensable to making sustainable diets practical, not just aspirational.

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Anna-Lena Klapp, lead researcher of a ProVeg-supported study analyzing national dietary guidelines across 100 countries, pointed out that too many guidelines still marginalize or ignore plant-based nutrition models. She noted that 18 percent of food-based dietary guidelines omit mention of plant-based protein sources entirely, while many fail to present guidance on iron or calcium from plants. “While animal-sourced foods can represent an important nutrient source, overconsumption, and intensive animal agriculture also contribute to the major global challenges that humanity is currently facing, including climate change and biodiversity loss, animal welfare, and public health,” Klapp said.

What’s new, and what’s strengthened

Compared to the 2019 EAT-Lancet report, this 2025 edition expands the framework significantly. It brings in new modeling across multiple planetary boundaries, integrating climate, land use, fresh water, nutrient pollution, and novel entities (such as microplastics and pesticides). 13 independent modeling groups contributed to the projections.

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It sharpens the dietary guidance: while still flexible, the updated PHD places emphasis on boosting whole grains, legumes, nuts, fruits, and vegetables, and tightening limits on red meat, saturated fat, sugar, and salt. The diet remains adaptable to cultural preferences and resource constraints.

On the agricultural side, the report argues that legume production would need to increase by as much as 190 percent, vegetable output by 42 to 48 percent, while global animal production must shrink by 22 to 27 percent to align with planetary limits. It also identifies eight solution pathways, including closing yield gaps, reducing food waste, improving agro-ecological practices, conserving ecosystems, supporting smallholder farmers, reforming subsidies, strengthening governance, and remedying inequalities. 

The refreshed report also places justice explicitly in the center of food system transformation: it calls for fair wages, secured labor rights, meaningful representation for food system workers, and policies that protect marginalized groups as key ingredients of change. In the commission’s words, transformation that ignores inequity is bound to fail.

Some critical commentary is already emerging. Researchers have warned that the assumptions underpinning global diet models may not translate perfectly into different cultural or economic settings. As one critic writes, applying uniform dietary benchmarks risks being “too definitive” a roadmap, given varying regional nutritional needs, food preferences, and local data gaps.

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Another persistent challenge lies in the “last mile”—consumer behavior and food environments. A recent study in university cafeterias found that implementing a Meat-Free Day cut menu emissions by 52.9 percent, but also reduced protein intake by 27.6 percent and saw meal sales drop 16.8 percent. Most critically, gains did not always persist on subsequent days. The study authors argue that nudges alone cannot sustain change without structural incentives and retention strategies.

The commission acknowledges this challenge. It frames diets as one axis in a multidimensional transformation and calls for scaling evidence-based interventions and leveraging behavior, incentives, and policy in tandem. 

What this means for you, and what to watch

For consumers, the 2025 EAT-Lancet report reaffirms what many health and sustainability advocates have long championed: a diet centered on whole, minimally processed plant foods and limited animal products not only benefits personal health, but also holds systemic leverage. For those already embracing plant-rich diets, the report lends scientific heft to the push for subsidies, institutional procurement changes, and stronger public policy to make sustainable eating more accessible.

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For policymakers and food businesses, the report’s new justice framing signals that transitions cannot be top-down or imposed. Success depends on centering equity: ensuring farmers, workers, and presently underserved communities receive resources, protections, and decision-making power. Professor Chris Hilson, Professor of Law at the University of Reading, said in a statement that any changes to how we grow and eat food “must ensure farmers can make a decent living, everyone can afford nutritious meals, and no communities get left behind.”

Expect to see a surge of debate as world leaders converge for COP30 in Brazil this November, where emissions from land use, agriculture, and food systems will be priorities in negotiations. ProVeg has indicated that dietary guidelines offer a potent lever under negotiation, warning that without clear government commitments, the PHD risks remaining a blueprint rather than a roadmap.

Still, the report faces pushback. Analysts have documented organized disinformation campaigns from the meat industry, geared to frame EAT-Lancet as radical or hypocritical, especially on social media.

If the commission’s math is right and politics allow it to scale, what we eat in the coming years may become as critical to climate policy as what fuels our cars. And while no single diet plan can resolve complex global inequities overnight, this report stakes a stronger claim: food is now front and center in the intersections of health, climate, and justice.