SUSHRUTA Journal of Health Policy & Opinions

Climate Change and Nutrition

Niamh Kelly ANutr, BSc Human Nutrition,

Policy Research Officer in Sustainable Food Systems, London School of Hygiene & Tropical
Diseases, UK
[email protected]

Abstract
Human health and planetary health are intertwined in many ways, food systems being an
example. This article describes the complex manner in which food systems impact on the
environment and how our dietary choices have consequences for climate change. Subsequent
changes to weather patterns and ecosystems can then destabilise these food systems
impacting on human health. This article explains how various components of food systems
must be considered when attempting to understand effects on climate change. It concludes
by offering practical solutions on an individual and societal level to mitigate these effects.

Key words
Climate change, nutrition, food systems, sustainability

Cite as: Kelly N. Climate Change and Nutrition. Sushruta 2020 (Jul) 13(2): pre-print v1 ePub
23.04.2020 DOI: 10.38192/13.2.8

Climate change and Nutrition

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has brought into focus the link between human health and
planetary health. This is something we need to keep in mind once we make it through this
crisis and ensure that we move forward in a way that benefits both human health and the
environment. One area that needs particular attention is food; our food systems have a
tremendous impact on the environment, accounting for 20-30% of total global greenhouse
gas emissions (1). Food systems include everything that happens to our food from farm to
fork such as the agricultural practices used, processing, transport and food waste. However,
these different aspects of the food system don’t contribute equally to climate change. About
two thirds of emissions linked to our food are from the agricultural side of food production,
mainly from livestock and changes in land use for farming. The remaining third is accrued
during processing, packaging and transport.

Livestock and Land use

Livestock alone produce approximately 15% of overall GHG emissions, mainly due to methane
production from cattle and sheep, but also includes contributions from feed production and
changes in land use for grazing. Large areas are deforested each year to convert the space
into pasture for animals to graze, or crops to be grown. Forests are considered “carbon sinks”
which means they are good for soaking up carbon from the atmosphere. Therefore, removing

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large amounts of forests reduces the amount of carbon dioxide being absorbed, but can also
lead to carbon dioxide actually being released into the atmosphere when the trees are cut
down.

Water use
Water used in agriculture is a combination of stored rainwater (called “green” water) and
groundwater which is found in the spaces between soil and rocks underground. We are
increasingly reliant on groundwater in agriculture, particularly in India where 90% of
groundwater is used for agriculture. As temperatures rise and incidence of drought increases
in certain areas more water will be needed to produce crops, particularly those such as
almonds and avocados which are grown in dry, hot areas and require a lot of water.

Transport
Half of the food consumed in the UK is imported, adding extra emissions to our food system
(2). About one third of UK food is imported from Europe and the other 20% comes from
various regions including Africa, South America and Asia. Fruit and vegetables are the main
types of foods imported, partly due to the demand for certain fruits and vegetables all year
round, rather than when they are in season. However, this is a complex issue and there are
times when transporting foods from abroad in fact has lower emissions than locally produced
foods. For example, growing tomatoes in the UK under heated conditions can be more energy
intensive than those grown in Spain (1).

Biodiversity
Biodiversity, or the variability of species in a region, is an important part of planetary health
as each species place a role in sustaining ecosystems. One of the main drivers of loss of
biodiversity is changes in land use, such as deforestation and changes in land use for farming,
which can destroy animal habitats. As well as this, some agricultural processes are putting
some of our pollinators such as honeybees as risk. In the United States a large portion of the
honeybee population are transported to California by beekeepers each year to pollinate
almond trees. It is risky bringing such a large proportion of one species to one location as if
they came in contact with a pathogen, there is the potential for the bee population to be
depleted (3).

How climate change can affect our food systems

There has been an increasing occurrence of extreme weather events like floods, forest fires
and drought in recent years, which can have major impacts on food production and supply.
However, these events and the warming of the planet is not happening evenly. Low- and
middle-income countries, which hold most of the world’s population, are more vulnerable to
climate change than high income countries and have already begun seeing some of its affects.
Additionally, a modelling study carried out in 2016 by Springman and colleagues predicts that
by 2050 there will be a 3.2% reduction in food availability, which consists mainly of reductions
in fruit and vegetables, and these effects will predominantly be seen in Africa, Southeast Asia
and Western Pacific Regions (4).

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Rising temperatures will increase the demand for water for use in agriculture, particularly in
drought prone areas. Seasonal patterns have begun to shift slightly and this along with
changes in rainfall and temperatures makes harvests unpredictable and can lead to spoilage
and food loss. This dysregulation can also negatively affect insect pollinators which may begin
to migrate to other areas that have a more suitable climate.

It is difficult to predict each way climate change may affect our food supplies but there is
some debate over whether climate change may impact the nutrition quality of foods, or
whether some crop pests and diseases may become more virulent (5). Due to our widespread
use of monocropping, where only one variation of a crop is grown, a change in the behaviour
of pests could lead to devastating impacts on food production.

What can we do about it?

While this all can sound very worrying, there are things we can do to help reduce our impact.
On a large scale, research is being conducted on technology that can be used to reduce
emissions linked with agriculture, such as using robots instead of heavy machinery, improved
irrigation, and vertical farming where fruit and vegetable are grown on shelves one on top of
the other. But what can we do ourselves to reduce the impact of our diet on climate change?

Reducing waste
One third of the food produced worldwide is either lost or wasted. Food is considered “lost”
when it is removed from the food chain before it gets to the consumer, for example food lost
through processing ultra-high processed foods or being rejected by supermarkets because of
size, shape or colour. Whereas waste refers to the food that is thrown away after reaching
the consumer. As the global population is predicted to rise to 9 billion by 2050, it is crucial we
start to tackle this issue by reducing our food waste; buying only what you need and freezing
foods you won’t use before they go off.

There is currently research looking into circular economies for food, which are closed loop
systems that aim to maximise resources and reduce as much unnecessary waste as possible.
Outside of this, some companies are making profits from these “lost” foods and delivering
surplus or rejected fruits and vegetables to homes and offices, or making sauces or smoothies
from it. As well as this, there are a variety of apps such as Karma and Too Good to Go, looking
to reduce food waste from restaurants, where the public can purchase food from food outlets
at a reduced price to prevent it from being thrown away. Another example is OLIO, which
help to reduce household waste by allowing members of the public to advertise foods they
will not use for someone else to pick up for free.

Reduce meat consumption

Diets that are considered environmentally friendly are those that are more plant based with
a smaller proportion of animal products, particularly vegetarian and vegan diets. These diets
also tend to be healthier than those with higher impacts on the environment as they are

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higher in fibre and lower in saturated fat. Therefore, adopting sustainable environmentally
friendly diets be an extremely useful way of promoting both public health and planetary
health.

A lot of the messages about dietary change for planetary health focus on promoting veganism,
removing all animal products from the diet. While it is entirely possible to meet your
nutritional requirements on a vegan diet with supplements of fortified foods, it is important
to be aware a vegan diet is not always suitable for everyone. Instead, it might be more useful
for the majority of people to reduce their meat consumption, particularly red meat. A
modelling study by Green and colleagues predicted that a person could reduce their
Greenhouse Gas emissions by 40% if they reduced their red meat consumption by three
quarters (6).

Buy locally produced, seasonal foods

Buying locally produced foods that are in season will help to reduce the transport emissions
associated with out of season foods and potentially reduce water usage for crops grown in
drought prone countries. However, this would require us to educate ourselves about what
fruit and vegetables are in season month to month. Avoiding plastic packaging when possible,
as most people are aware, can also help reduce the environmental impact of your diet and
many supermarkets have begun trialling refill stations in their stores. Another consideration
is limiting consumption of ultrahigh processed foods which require a lot of resources but also
leads to food loss.

Despite the challenges linked to making our food systems more sustainable, these actions
have the potential to improve not only planetary health but our own health too. Small and
sustainable changes such as those mentioned above can help to transform our food systems
to reduce their overall impact on the environment, increase demand for more sustainably
produced foods and potentially safeguard against some of the effects of climate change on
nutrition.

References
1. Garnett T, Smith P, Nicholson W, Finch J. Food systems and greenhouse gas emissions
(Foodsource: chapters). 2016.
2. Office for National Statistics. Food Statistics in your pocket 2017 - Global and UK supply
- GOV.UK [Internet]. Food Statistics Pocketbook. 2017 [cited 2020 Mar 10]. Available
from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/food-statistics-pocketbook-
2017/food-statistics-in-your-pocket-2017-global-and-uk-supply
3. Cavigli I, Daughenbaugh KF, Martin M, Lerch M, Banner K, Garcia E, et al. Pathogen
prevalence and abundance in honey bee colonies involved in almond pollination.
Apidologie. 2016 Mar 1;47(2):251–66.
4. Springmann M, Mason-D’Croz D, Robinson S, Garnett T, Godfray HCJ, Gollin D, et al.
Global and regional health effects of future food production under climate change: A
modelling study. Lancet. 2016 May 7;387(10031):1937–46.
5. Special Report on Climate Change and Land — IPCC site [Internet]. [cited 2020 Mar 21].

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Available from: https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/

6. Green R, Milner J, Dangour AD, Haines A, Chalabi Z, Markandya A, et al. The potential
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the UK through healthy and realistic dietary
change. Clim Change. 2015 Jan 26;129(1–2):253–65.

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