Cutting back on meat and now dairy is heading to the healthiest plenary diet of all veganism. You will live longer and have the least impact on the planet.
According to the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), meat and dairy accounts for around 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Different types of diets
Greenhouse gas savings potential from the global adoption of various diets. Error bars show the spread of results from different studies. Data without error bars are from one study only. Adapted from IPCC (2018). Chart by Carbon Brief using Highcharts.
• Vegan: a completely plant-based diet.
• Vegetarian: a diet of grains, vegetables, fruits, sugars, oils, eggs and dairy.
• Flexitarian: a diet in which 75% of meat and dairy is replaced by cereals and pulses.
• Healthy diet: a diet based on global dietary guidelines, which involves eating less meat and more fruit and vegetables.
• Fair and frugal: a diet assuming food is shared equally across the world with each person consuming 2800 calories a day. (This involves a relatively low level of animal products.)
• Pescetarian: a vegetarian diet that includes seafood.
• Climate carnivore: a diet where 75% of red meat is replaced with other meat.
• Mediterranean: a diet of vegetables, fruits, grains, sugars, oils, eggs, dairy, seafood and moderate amounts of poultry, pork, lamb and beef.
Dairy is a pretty damaging product for the planet. Dairy cows' burps and their manure produce vast amounts of methane gas. Poor handling of manure and fertilizers can degrade local water resources. Dairy farming and feed production can lead to the loss of ecologically important areas, such as wetlands, prairies, and forests. Vast areas of the Amazon rainforest is getting chopped down to grow soya feed for chickens.
Good starting point is Veganuary, and you don't need to wait till January to start. Their website is packed full of ideas, recipes, advice and support. You can download free cookbooks and learn all about the plant revolution: