The Planetary Health Diet: A Powerful Tool for a Resilient Food System

Op-ed by Sumati Bajaj, Physicians Association for Nutrition (PAN International). What we put on our plates has substantial consequences for our planet. Food production accounts for around a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions, making it a leading driver of global warming. Unsustainable land use remains a key driver of biodiversity loss, deforestation, and environmental degradation. Half of the world’s habitable land is farmland, often created through unsustainable conversion of natural ecosystems, driving habitat loss and accelerating the sixth mass extinction. Moreover, agriculture is a central factor in water scarcity worldwide, using approximately 70% of the world’s available freshwater. All these interlinked crises are impeding the global food system’s ability to function reliably. Soaring temperatures mean increasingly erratic weather and rainfall patterns, making it harder for farmers and producers to grow food. For example, in 2023, record rains in eastern China destroyed 2% of the country’s corn crop and 5% of its rice output, while droughts and heatwaves meant that the 2025 harvest was one of the UK’s worst ever. For businesses, these shocks translate into material supply chain risk, price volatility, and growing pressure to demonstrate credible transition plans across food portfolios. The Planetary Health Diet It doesn’t need to be like this. As the food system sits at the epicentre of the climate and nature crises, it also offers a unique means of tackling them. We just need to change the way we eat. The Planetary Health Diet offers a science-based blueprint for dramatically reducing food-related emissions, ecosystem degradation and the conversion of wild landscapes to farmland. It is a flexible dietary pattern that prioritises health, equity, and planetary boundaries. Rich in plants, it means largely eating wholegrains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes, like lentils. Only small amounts of fish, dairy and meat are recommended, due to the disproportionately high impacts animal agriculture can have on the environment. For instance, farming cattle for beef can be over 100 times more emissions-intensive than growing legumes. Likewise, industrial livestock farms are up to 33 times more resource-intensive in terms of the land and water they require than plant-based protein production. A holistic solution If we shift consumption away from resource-intensive foods and toward plant-rich dietary patterns, we can halve food-related emissions by 2050. But it’s not just about decarbonisation. At the same time, we can free up vast tracts of land for nature restoration and carbon sequestration, while relieving pressure on freshwater systems, improving soil fertility and reducing farmers’ reliance on polluting chemical fertilisers and pesticides. This is also a resilience agenda: diversified, plant-forward supply chains can help reduce exposure to high-risk commodities and climate-sensitive production. A switch to this way of eating can boost public health too, by addressing food inequality and preventing tens of thousands of premature deaths every day. Currently, one in eleven people are hungry. Meanwhile, millions of people are suffering from preventable chronic diseases related to what they eat. For example, growing levels of obesity linked to poor diets means that diabetes is now the eighth leading cause of death worldwide, even though it was the twentieth as recently as 1990. By making our food production more sustainable, we could make much more efficient use of the land and create nutritious food for everyone. As a medical organisation, PAN International focuses on translating this evidence into practical action for health systems, clinicians, and public institutions. Practical pathways to dietary transformation The widescale adoption of the Planetary Health Diet will depend on multiple courses of action, like aligning incentives for healthier, more sustainable food environments and creating new laws so that food producers move to more sustainable agricultural practices. That can include fiscal measures, procurement standards, clearer labelling, and support for farmers transitioning to diversified production. Public institutions will be crucial. Sustainable nutrition needs to become embedded in healthcare, education and public procurement. For instance, if hospitals, governments, municipal councils and schools normalise plant-rich wholefoods by buying them for their canteens and catering services, they could help reshape the entire food system. The might of their collective purchasing power would drive upstream changes in agriculture, supply chains and food manufacturing. Businesses that supply these institutions will increasingly be expected to meet health and sustainability criteria, not just price and volume. Critically, there will be no one-size-fits-all approach, which aligns with the nature of the diet itself. Highly flexible, it can be tailored to a diverse array of cultural and culinary traditions. For example, its adoption in Europe and North America will be largely about reducing meat consumption. Meanwhile, in India, where meat is not so commonly eaten, it’s likely that the focus will be more on improving overall dietary quality, including reducing ultra-processed foods and increasing access to affordable, nutritious wholefoods. This flexibility makes it not only viable across regions and income levels, but also uniquely scalable. For food businesses, it also creates clear innovation signals: growth in legumes, wholegrains, minimally processed foods, and healthier reformulation. A cornerstone of sustainability For too long, we have ignored the food system’s fundamental role in planetary and human health. We have produced food without considering Earth’s boundaries or our own nutrition. With our natural world hurtling towards collapse, we can delay action no longer. Ultimately, embracing the Planetary Health Diet can help safeguard vital ecosystems, stabilise the climate and ensure the long-term viability of our food production. It is an evidence-based pathway for governments, health systems, and businesses to align health outcomes with sustainability goals at scale. Learn more about PAN International at https://pan-int.org/.