A new 2025 report from the EAT-Lancet Commission highlights that current food systems are harming planetary boundaries and human health, but a transformation to healthy, sustainable and just systems is possible. The report calls for bundled policy measures, like subsidies for fruits and vegetables and taxes on unhealthy foods, to drive this change.
Building on its influential 2019 report, the new EAT-Lancet Commission - comprising leading international experts in nutrition, climate, economics, health, social sciences and agriculture from more than 35 countries across six continents finds that shifting global diets could prevent approximately 15 million premature deaths per year. At the same time, concerted global efforts to transform food systems could bring us back within planetary boundaries and cut annual greenhouse gas emissions from food systems by more than half compared with a business-as-usual scenario.
The Commission's findings stress that just food systems will be essential to achieving improved health and social development outcomes. Less than one per cent of the world's population is currently in the "safe and just space", where people's rights and food needs are met within planetary boundaries. According to the report, currently almost a third (32%) of food systems workers earn below a living wage. Meanwhile, the wealthiest 30 per cent of people drive more than 70 per cent of food-related environmental impacts, and despite global calorie sufficiency, more than one billion people remain undernourished.
The analysis warns that even with a complete global transition away from fossil fuels, food systems could still push temperatures beyond 1.5°Celsius. The planetary boundaries framework defines nine key Earth system processes that regulate life on Earth. The world has already passed six of these nine boundaries: climate, biodiversity, land, freshwater, nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, and novel entities (pesticides, antimicrobials and microplastics). Food systems are the largest contributor to five of these transgressions and contribute around 30 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions globally.
Analysis shows that reshaping systems could deliver returns of USD five trillion a year through better health, restored ecosystems, and climate resilience - more than ten times the USD 200-500 billion investment needed to drive food systems change. Achieving these goals requires urgent policy action, dietary consumption transformation and a realignment of global financial incentives to support just, resilient and sustainable food systems.
Drawing on the most recent evidence and advanced modelling, the report sets the boundaries of how 9.6 billion people globally can eat nutritiously and equitably within critical environmental boundaries by 2050. The report shows that changes to the way we produce and consume food can improve global health, achieve food and nutrition security, build stability and resilience, and contribute to critical strategies to improve equity and working conditions in food systems.
A fairer distribution of resources, benefits and costs is required to ensure that food systems are sustainable for both people and the planet. This includes the social foundations that enable people's right to food, decent work and a healthy environment. The Commission maintains that truly effective transformation must consider both social foundations and planetary boundaries to create a safe and just future for everyone.
As part of the Commission's work, 13 independent modelling groups assessed the potential impacts of food systems change on five of the planetary boundaries: climate, land, freshwater, nutrients pollution and novel entities (pesticides, antimicrobials and microplastics). This work outlines the potential of food systems transformations that include the adoption of healthy diets, reduced food loss and waste, and improved production practices to advance human health and reduce pressure on the environment. The analysis integrates diverse datasets, including diet and health outcomes, into a unified framework that maps a safe and just operating space for food systems globally.
Across all regions, the analysis reveals a common shortfall: diets consistently lack sufficient fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes and whole grains. In many places, the analysis also finds that diets contain excess meat, dairy, animal fats, sugar and excessively processed foods.
Building on existing data, the 2025 Commission has strengthened evidence of the benefits of the Planetary Health Diet, which sets out recommendations for healthy diets that ensure nutritional adequacy, support optimal health outcomes and can be adapted to different contexts and cultures. It emphasises a plant-rich diet, with optional, moderate amounts of animal-source foods and limited added sugars, saturated fats and salt. There is also good evidence that adoption of diets in line with the Planetary Health Diet would lower the environmental impacts of most current diets.
Furthermore, the Commission calls for subsidising reforms that make healthy and nutritious foods more accessible, and for regulatory and advocacy mechanisms that support decent work and meaningful representation for food systems workers. A just transformation requires building coalitions with actors both inside and outside of the food system, identifying priority actions, developing national and regional roadmaps, unlocking finance and putting collaborative plans into action. These actions provide a guide for public, private and civil society stakeholders to act together for meaningful progress.