--- title: How a Vegetarian Diet Could Help Save the Planet description: New research shows how the widespread adoption of vegetarian and vegan diets could save millions of lives and trillion of dollars canonical: https://time.com/4266874/vegetarian-diet-climate-change/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-21T23:17:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:03.025Z article:section: Science og:title: How a Vegetarian Diet Could Help Save the Planet og:description: And save trillions of dollars og:url: https://time.com/4266874/vegetarian-diet-climate-change/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c13cd7cfc5793be/69878149a988ca13736acb2a/time-50-healthiest-foods-avocados.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1707 og:image:height: 960 og:image:alt: healthiest foods, health food, diet, nutrition, time.com stock, avocados, fruit og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How a Vegetarian Diet Could Help Save the Planet twitter:description: And save trillions of dollars twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c13cd7cfc5793be/69878149a988ca13736acb2a/time-50-healthiest-foods-avocados.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How a Vegetarian Diet Could Help Save the Planet > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Future Proof: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Future Proof is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Making sense of the climate and energy economy. Future Proof examines the forces transforming energy and climate, and what those changes mean for business, technology, policy and the global economy. Senior correspondent Justin Worland goes beyond traditional climate coverage to connect the energy transition to the bigger decisions reshaping companies, markets and society. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Is Climate Change Causing Extreme Weather? [Watch (HLS stream): Is Climate Change Causing Extreme Weather?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/LQufbOt9.m3u8) (2:04)  _Published 2013-11-11. Is the frequency of extreme weather events a sign that global warming is gaining pace and exceeding predictions? Climate scientist Bill Patzert explains._  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Mar 21, 2016 11:17 PM UTC  Danny Kim for TIME  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Mar 21, 2016 11:17 PM UTC Evangelists of vegetarian and vegan diets are quick to cite [growing evidence](http://time.com/4092378/red-meat-hot-dogs-and-the-war-on-delicious/) that reducing meat consumption improves human health in attempt to win over converts. Likewise, climate change activists often cite the strain that animal products place on the environment to advocate for changed practices. Now, [new research](http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1523119113) published in the journal _PNAS_ combines the two perspectives to show that the widespread adoption of vegetarian and vegan diets could save millions of lives and trillion of dollars. “There is huge potential,” says study author Marco Springmann, a researcher at Oxford University, “from a health perspective, an environmental perspective and an economic perspective, really.” Researchers assessed four different scenarios with humans consuming varying levels of meat to evaluate the links between diet, health and the environment. The lowest level of meat consumption—widespread adoption of the vegan diet—could help avoid more than 8 million deaths by 2050, according to the study. A vegetarian diet would save 7.3 million lives. **Read More:** [This Is Why Vegetarianism Didn’t Catch on Until Recently](http://time.com/4220270/vegetarianism-history-meathooked/) The environmental impacts of a dietary shift could be just as dramatic, according to the researchers. [Livestock alone](https://ccafs.cgiar.org/bigfacts/#theme=food-emissions) account for more than 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and by 2050 the food sector could account for half if cuts are implemented in other sectors along the lines that [countries have committed to doing](http://time.com/4146764/paris-agreement-climate-cop-21/). A vegan or vegetarian diet could cut those emissions by 70% and 63%, respectively. Changing dietary patterns could save $1 trillion annually by preventing health care costs and lost productivity. That figure balloons to as much as $30 trillion annually when also considering the economic value of lost life. And that doesn’t even include the economic benefits of avoiding devastating [extreme weather events](http://time.com/4255428/climate-change-extreme-weather/) that could result from climate change. Placing a dollar value on the benefits of the vegetarian diet could play a significant role in public policy on these issues, according Springmann. Policymakers often conduct cost-benefit analyses before implementing new rules and the new research could provide them with a starting point for accounting for the economic benefits of policies to wean the world off meat. **Read More:** [How Climate Change May Affect Your Diet](http://time.com/4244617/climate-change-dietary-patterns/) The study also illustrates how the benefits of changing dietary patterns vary from region to region. Some areas—namely, East Asia, Latin America and Western high-income countries—benefited from reduced red meat consumption. Others in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa will benefit the most from increased fruit and vegetable intake. Those details could help policymakers create narrowly targeted policies, researchers say. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Extreme weather was more frequent in recent years. Is it a sign that global warming is gaining pace and exceeding predictions? Now, has extreme weather been more frequent in recent years? The evidence is definitely to the contrary. The United States has always had extreme weather. We look back on our weather history. It's been punishing. Floods, droughts, tornadoes, hurricanes, great forest fires. Is global warming happening? No doubt about it. We're living in a warmer world. We're living in a melting world, sea levels are rising. Now, direct evidence of the foot print or the finger print of global warming, we're seeing more frequent, more intense and longer lasting heat waves. As far as hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires, floods and drought; the evidence is definitely not in. The consensus among almost all scientists is, is that it's a small finger print, not a large foot print. But what is true is that in this country, in the United States, we live in many areas with great risk to drought, [ NOISE ] to tornadoes, to hurricanes. And so part of the dialog is not only extreme weather and global warming but is the amount of risk we can tolerate. Now, looking to the future, global change, global warming it definitely is accelerating and it will have an impact on extreme weather. But at this point, not much. 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