18) 3C Climate-Friendly Diets Can Make A Huge Difference

3C Article n°18
Climate-friendly diets can make a huge difference – even if you don’t go all-out vegan1
Amanda Schupak
The Guardian, 4 June 2022
Changing habits can be hard but even partial shifts from meat-based menus could significantly
decrease planet-heating emissions
Who chooses what you eat? If your answer is “I do,” you’re partly right. You may buy your
own groceries and order your own restaurant meals, but it’s the food industry that
5 determines what is stocked on store shelves and listed on menus.
“The institutions all around us affect food choice,” said Matthew Hayek, assistant professor
of environmental studies at New York University. Your choices are whittled down (= réduits)
by what’s in the supermarket, your workplace or school canteen, the restaurants in the strip
mall on your way home, he said.
10 That means that for people who want to reduce the carbon footprint of their diets, the
greenest option isn’t always on the table. Or if it is, it isn’t the most appetizing or convenient.
What we eat has an enormous environmental impact. Scientists estimate that food
production causes 35% of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, with meat
responsible for more than twice the pollution of fruits, grains and greens.
15 In April, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report urged world leaders,
especially those in developed countries, to support a transition to sustainable, healthy, low-
emissions diets to help mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis.
But the burden (= charge) can’t rest on individuals making personal food choices, experts
stress – producers, retailers, restaurants, workplaces and government must help make plant-
20 based foods convenient, enticing and tasty.
‘It’s hard for people to change their diets’
Eating less meat is one of the most meaningful changes people can make to curb (= freiner)
greenhouse gas emissions, help reduce deforestation and even decrease the risk of
pandemic-causing diseases passing from animals to humans, according to the IPCC report.
25 The shifts needn’t be extreme. Adopting a healthy Mediterranean-style diet – rich in grains,
vegetables, nuts and moderate amounts of fish and poultry – could be nearly as effective as
going vegetarian or vegan, the report found. If everyone met basic nutritional
1
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3C Article n°18
recommendations, which for most people in developed countries means more fruit and veg
and less red meat, emissions could fall 29% by 2050, according to one study.
30 “But it’s hard for people to change their diets,” said Caroline Bushnell at the Good Food
Institute, a non-profit that advocates (= recommander) for plant-based and cultured meat.
Consumers often say they’re motivated to eat more healthily and more sustainably. But if
given the choice between a dish that’s better for the planet but not especially appetizing,
and a mouth-watering, meat-heavy option, people tend to listen to their gut, not their
35 conscience.
It’s like offering someone the choice between fries and a side salad, Bushnell said. “Most
people don’t pick the side salad – it’s not really an equivalent option.”
GFI wants large food manufacturers and processors to “change how the foods that people
love are made”, she said. “Instead of advocating for behavior change, we approach it from
40 a supply side angle.”
Big meat companies and consumer food brands are banking on (= compter sur) plant-
based proteins and lab-grown meat to help them respond to a growing appetite for more
climate-friendly foods and to cut their own emissions.
With more products to sell, retailers, too, need to push non-animal proteins. The UK’s
45 largest supermarket chain, Tesco, for example, set a five-year goal to increase sales of plant-
based proteins by 300%.
Making progress requires all the tools available, said Hayek: educating people about food’s
climate impact; giving them more and better plant-based options; guiding choice by
changing the default, offering incentives and imposing disincentives (such as taxes);
50 restricting and in some cases eliminating most meat options (as some European universities
have). It worked to curb smoking rates, Hayek said, and it could work for food.
“What does it look like if we actually dedicate ourselves to making a concerted,

comprehensive attempt to tackle (= s’attaquer à) food choices?” he asked. “Let’s try.”

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3C Article n°18

The Guardian, 4 June 2022

‘It’s hard for people to change their diets’

“What does it look like if we actually dedicate ourselves to making a concerted,

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