Reducing meat consumption could save 5.1 million people by 2050

They claim their findings suggest that the world could save millions of lives and trillions of dollars over the next half century, if a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle were adopted worldwide.

Climate and other scientists have known for quite some time that the business of producing meat and consuming it is a major factor contributing to climate change—not only are trees cut to make way for ranch land, but enormous amounts of food are grown to feed the animals on them.

Furthermore, animals produce large quantities of methane. Scientists also know that people do not need to eat meat to stay alive, vegetarians and vegans are proof of that. But, what is still unclear is just how much benefit the world would receive if the people of the world switched over to such a diet. That is what the researchers sought to answer.

To gain a better understanding of what is at stake, the researchers used the models to investigate four scenarios unfolding by 2050: business as usual, a worldwide limited meat diet, a worldwide vegetarian diet and a worldwide vegan diet.

Their models show, they report, that the second option, simply reducing meat to global guidelines could prevent 5.1 million deaths by the half century mark—or better yet, 8.1 million fewer people would die if the world converted to a vegan diet.

They also found that the limited meat option would lower the amount of food-related greenhouse gas emissions by 29%, while the vegetarian option would reduce it by 63% and the vegan option would reduce it by 70%. The researchers also note that recent estimates suggest that a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions come from food production.

The team also outlined regional changes, such as suggesting that approximately 75% of the benefits of meat reduction would occur in developing parts of the world. They also acknowledge that making such a switch would require serious effort by people across the globe.