Environmental Impacts of Animal and Plant-Based Food (Blue Horizon)

Summary

• Food production accounts for around 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions.p.5
• Plant-based alternatives consistently have a lower overall environmental footprint, with beef mince alternatives 15x lower than conventionally farmed beef.p.9
• Just over 16% of total production would need to switch to alternatives by 2030 for a net fall in each environmental impact category against 2018.p.10
• Conventionally farmed chicken breast has 5.5x higher environmental impact than the plant-based alternatives.p.22
• Conventionally farmed egg has 3.2x higher environmental impact than the plant-based alternative.p.27
• Brazilian beef farming has by far the largest footprint, at nearly $20 per kg.p.32

Key insights

1. Plant-based alternative proteins have a lower environmental impact than animal counterparts even when the animal is farmed in the lowest impact location.p.9
2. Plant-based alternatives vary in impact from $0.18 to $0.60 per kg.p.13
3. Conventionally farmed pork mince has 3.4x higher environmental impact than the plant-based alternatives.p.37
4. A conventional egg farming system in China has 2.5x the impact of its equivalent in Europe.p.27
5. Using an average cut of chicken instead of a high-value cut would make the impact 2.3x smaller.p.22
6. Using an average cut of beef instead of a low-value cut would make the impact 1.8x bigger.p.32
7. For all four animal products, the impact of a conventional system is lowest in Europe.p.11
8. Global meat production and consumption has more than quadrupled in the last 50 years.p.5