Plant-based diets can help turn down the heat, food awareness organisation, ProVeg International, has said as the US National Centres for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reported that the planet had reached the highest recorded average global temperatures this week.
Transforming the food system by transitioning to plant-based diets can help tackle rising temperatures, which have been caused by emissions of greenhouse gases, along with the recent El Nino weather pattern.
“Plant-based diets emit half as much greenhouse gases as animal-based foods so individuals can play a significant role in addressing the climate crisis simply by switching to tasty, healthier plant-rich foods,” Jasmijn de Boo, CEO of ProVeg International, said.
“We will likely see global average temperatures continue to rise if we do not take actions like these, which are both simple and effective. Individuals who feel frustrated and helpless about the state of our climate and lack of action around it can see this as an opportunity to act,” de Boo added.
Animal agriculture is responsible for most of the global food system’s emissions and for 32% of total human-caused emissions of methane, which is a powerful greenhouse gas. Rapid global phase-out of animal agriculture has the potential to stabilise GHG levels for 30 years.
The public procurement of plant-based proteins can play an important role as well, having been described as one of three “super-leverage points” that could help the world to rapidly decarbonise, in a report presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos this year. The report describes a leverage point as a small intervention that can cause a large effect. “Super-leverage points” not only cut emissions in one key sector, but also support faster changes in other parts of the economy. The other two super-leverage points named in the report are: mandates for the sale of electric vehicles, and mandates requiring “green ammonia” to be used in the manufacturing of agricultural fertilisers.
