Lifetime Climate Impacts of Diet Transitions: A Novel Climate Change Accounting Perspective
Dietary transitions, such as eliminating meat consumption, have been proposed as one way to reduce the climate impact of the global and regional food systems. However, it should be ensured that replacement diets are, indeed, nutritious and that climate benefits are accurately accounted for. This stu...
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doaj-956e3a9b3f2d42ab8601b4ce9d917a002021-06-01T00:13:25ZengMDPI AGSustainability2071-10502021-05-01135568556810.3390/su13105568Lifetime Climate Impacts of Diet Transitions: A Novel Climate Change Accounting PerspectiveJonathan E. Barnsley0Chanjief Chandrakumar1Carlos Gonzalez-Fischer2Paul E. Eme3Bridget E. P. Bourke4Nick W. Smith5Lakshmi A. Dave6Warren C. McNabb7Harry Clark8David J. Frame9John Lynch10John R. Roche11Ministry for Primary Industries, Wellington 6140, New ZealandMinistry for Primary Industries, Wellington 6140, New ZealandNew Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre, Palmerston North 4442, New ZealandMinistry for Primary Industries, Wellington 6140, New ZealandMinistry for Primary Industries, Wellington 6140, New ZealandRiddet Institute, Massey University, Palmerston North 4442, New ZealandRiddet Institute, Massey University, Palmerston North 4442, New ZealandRiddet Institute, Massey University, Palmerston North 4442, New ZealandNew Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre, Palmerston North 4442, New ZealandSchool of Geography, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New ZealandDepartment of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU, UKMinistry for Primary Industries, Wellington 6140, New ZealandDietary transitions, such as eliminating meat consumption, have been proposed as one way to reduce the climate impact of the global and regional food systems. However, it should be ensured that replacement diets are, indeed, nutritious and that climate benefits are accurately accounted for. This study uses New Zealand food consumption as a case study for exploring the cumulative climate impact of adopting the national dietary guidelines and the substitution of meat from hypothetical diets. The new GWP* metric is used as it was designed to better reflect the climate impacts of the release of methane than the de facto standard 100-year Global Warming Potential metric (GWP100). A transition at age 25 to the hypothetical dietary guideline diet reduces cumulative warming associated with diet by 7 to 9% at the 100th year compared with consuming the average New Zealand diet. The reduction in diet-related cumulative warming from the transition to a hypothetical meat-substituted diet varied between 12% and 15%. This is equivalent to reducing an average individual’s lifetime warming contribution by 2 to 4%. General improvements are achieved for nutrient intakes by adopting the dietary guidelines compared with the average New Zealand diet; however, the substitution of meat items results in characteristic nutrient differences, and these differences must be considered alongside changes in emission profiles.https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/10/5568dietary changegreenhouse gas emissionsclimate changeGWP*New Zealand |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Jonathan E. Barnsley Chanjief Chandrakumar Carlos Gonzalez-Fischer Paul E. Eme Bridget E. P. Bourke Nick W. Smith Lakshmi A. Dave Warren C. McNabb Harry Clark David J. Frame John Lynch John R. Roche |
spellingShingle |
Jonathan E. Barnsley Chanjief Chandrakumar Carlos Gonzalez-Fischer Paul E. Eme Bridget E. P. Bourke Nick W. Smith Lakshmi A. Dave Warren C. McNabb Harry Clark David J. Frame John Lynch John R. Roche Lifetime Climate Impacts of Diet Transitions: A Novel Climate Change Accounting Perspective Sustainability dietary change greenhouse gas emissions climate change GWP* New Zealand |
author_facet |
Jonathan E. Barnsley Chanjief Chandrakumar Carlos Gonzalez-Fischer Paul E. Eme Bridget E. P. Bourke Nick W. Smith Lakshmi A. Dave Warren C. McNabb Harry Clark David J. Frame John Lynch John R. Roche |
author_sort |
Jonathan E. Barnsley |
title |
Lifetime Climate Impacts of Diet Transitions: A Novel Climate Change Accounting Perspective |
title_short |
Lifetime Climate Impacts of Diet Transitions: A Novel Climate Change Accounting Perspective |
title_full |
Lifetime Climate Impacts of Diet Transitions: A Novel Climate Change Accounting Perspective |
title_fullStr |
Lifetime Climate Impacts of Diet Transitions: A Novel Climate Change Accounting Perspective |
title_full_unstemmed |
Lifetime Climate Impacts of Diet Transitions: A Novel Climate Change Accounting Perspective |
title_sort |
lifetime climate impacts of diet transitions: a novel climate change accounting perspective |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Sustainability |
issn |
2071-1050 |
publishDate |
2021-05-01 |
description |
Dietary transitions, such as eliminating meat consumption, have been proposed as one way to reduce the climate impact of the global and regional food systems. However, it should be ensured that replacement diets are, indeed, nutritious and that climate benefits are accurately accounted for. This study uses New Zealand food consumption as a case study for exploring the cumulative climate impact of adopting the national dietary guidelines and the substitution of meat from hypothetical diets. The new GWP* metric is used as it was designed to better reflect the climate impacts of the release of methane than the de facto standard 100-year Global Warming Potential metric (GWP100). A transition at age 25 to the hypothetical dietary guideline diet reduces cumulative warming associated with diet by 7 to 9% at the 100th year compared with consuming the average New Zealand diet. The reduction in diet-related cumulative warming from the transition to a hypothetical meat-substituted diet varied between 12% and 15%. This is equivalent to reducing an average individual’s lifetime warming contribution by 2 to 4%. General improvements are achieved for nutrient intakes by adopting the dietary guidelines compared with the average New Zealand diet; however, the substitution of meat items results in characteristic nutrient differences, and these differences must be considered alongside changes in emission profiles. |
topic |
dietary change greenhouse gas emissions climate change GWP* New Zealand |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/10/5568 |
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