Towards more sustainable protein consumption – an essential component for global and local food systems

Diet choices are among the highest environmental impact choices high-income individuals can make. What we put on our plates impacts not only our health but also resource consumption and pollution throughout food production and waste disposal chains. Moving towards a larger share of plant-based proteins for wealthy consumers is a necessary underpinning of sustainable food systems. Using examples from the USA, the UK, and Sweden, I will demonstrate how reducing meat consumption has ripple effects, sometimes unexpected, in how to plan for sustainable nitrogen and phosphorus management. The largest barriers to progress are not technological, but societal. I argue that we need to mobilize actors now and across the food chain simultaneously to support a transition toward more sustainable protein consumption.