The EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health

Report Summary

The EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health

Can we feed a future population of 10 billion people a healthy diet within planetary boundaries?

The EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health brings together more than 30 world-leading scientists from across the globe to reach a scientific consensus that defines a healthy and sustainable diet.

The Commission is delivering the first full scientific review of what constitutes a healthy diet from a sustainable food system, and which actions can support and speed up food system transformation.

To access the EAT–Lancet Commission Hub page at The Lancet, click here.

For the full report Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems (Walter Willett et al.), click here.

The EAT-Lancet Launch Lecture was held in Oslo and livestreamed on Jan 17, and marked the beginning of a series of global launch events – see overview below.

Why is the EAT-Lancet Commission needed?

Food systems are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. They are the main user of fresh water, a leading driver of biodiversity loss, land-use change and cause eutrophication or dead zones in lakes and coastal areas. Simultaneously, unhealthy diets are the leading risk factor for disease worldwide, causing rapidly growing rates of Non-communicable-Diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, heart disease and cancers. Vast global undernutrition is adding mounting pressure to these challenges. In other words, how we grow, process, transport, consume and waste food is hurting both people and planet.

Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement targets to reduce carbon emissions means urgently and fundamentally changing the way we eat and produce food. But key questions remain unanswered and a lack of scientific consensus is slowing down governments, businesses and civil society actors who want to take action:

We don’t have a scientific consensus to define what is a healthy diet for all humans.
We don’t have a comprehensive review of how food production must change to be sustainable.
We don’t have clear, science-based guidelines telling all actors how we can provide humans with healthy diets from a sustainable food system.

The EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health is taking on these challenges.

To learn more, see Acting in the Anthropocene: The EAT-Lancet Commission, by Johan Rockstöm, Gunhild A. Stordalen and Richard Horton, published in The Lancet.

What is the Commission investigating?

The EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health brings together world-leading scientists from across the globe to reach a scientific consensus that defines a healthy and sustainable diet, and which actions can support and speed up food system transformation.

The Commission’s five Working Groups are investigating:

1) What is a healthy diet?

Working Group 1 consists of leading scientists in the fields of nutrition and public health, collaborating to create global guidelines for a healthy diet. Cutting through the deluge of often contradictory dietary advice, the group will review the scientific evidence that describes a healthy diet and present a universal reference diet – what every human needs for a healthy life.

2) What is a sustainable food system?

Working Group 2 is defining the environmental goals we must meet to preserve the planet’s resources and maintain food production well into the future. They are examining the impact of food production on the planetary boundaries for greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen and phosphorus, water, land use and biodiversity. Working Group 2 will also define the limits to sustainably using these resources in the future and propose games-changers that can, for example, reduce waste or increase productivity to ensure food production stays within the planet’s limits of sustainability.

3) What are the trends shaping diets today?

Diets around the world have changed immeasurably in the last decades and continue to shift alongside production systems, policies and markets. Working Group 3 is investigating what is actually on people’s plates around the world today, and exposing the drivers behind changes in food production and consumption. Their review will show which actors were influential in causing this shift, and how to redirect a changing food system towards a healthier, more sustainable future.

4) Can we achieve healthy diets from sustainable food systems? How?

Working Groups 1 and 2 are presenting guidelines for a healthy diet and a sustainable food system. Armed with this framework, Working Group 4 is using innovative models to show the impacts of diets that respect planetary boundaries and human nutritional needs. They will propose a range of potential diets that can meet these demands.

5) What are the solutions and policies we can apply?

Working Group 5 will present policies and actions to guide governments, businesses and other actors towards meeting the Commission’s targets for human health and sustainable food systems.

What will be the outcomes of the Commission?

The EAT-Lancet Commission is setting scientific targets for healthy diets and food production. These targets define a safe operating space – the upper and lower limits for adequate diets and food production – that ensures human health and environmental sustainability.

These limits include the amounts of individual foods that should be consumed, the amount of land use, biodiversity loss, water use, greenhouse gas emissions, plus nitrogen and phosphorous pollution that can stem from food production.

By assessing the best available scientific evidence, the EAT- Lancet report bridges the gaps between health, environmental sustainability, science and action. The report will provide scientific targets to guide actors in the development of actions in line with achieving their SDGs and Paris Agreement goals.

What is the EAT-Lancet Commission?

The EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems convenes leading global researchers from diverse scientific disciplines. Their mission is to advance the development of scientific targets for healthy diets from environmentally sustainable food production. The Stockholm Resilience Centre houses the EAT-Lancet Commission secretariat and co-leads the Commission’s research activities with EAT.

See a full list of Commissioners below.

Learn how the Commission was funded here.

EAT-Lancet Commission Briefs

Brief

EAT-Lancet Commission Brief for Cities

Brief

EAT-Lancet Commission Brief for Everyone

Brief

EAT-Lancet Commission Brief for Farmers

Brief

EAT-Lancet Commission Brief for Food Service Professionals

Brief

EAT-Lancet Commission Brief for Healthcare Professionals

Brief

EAT-Lancet Commission Brief for Policymakers

Launch Events

January 17

The EAT-Lancet Commission Launch in Oslo

Venue: The Aula, University of Oslo, Karl Johans Gate 47 Date: Thursday, January 17, 2019 Time: 14:30 – 16:00

February 1

The EAT-Lancet Commission Launch in Melbourne

February 5

The EAT-Lancet Commission Launch in New York

Together with our partners, EAT will curate a series of launch events across at least 35 sites around the globe. Stay tuned for more information.

The EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health

The EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health brings together more than 30 world-leading scientists from across the globe to reach a scientific consensus that defines a healthy and sustainable diet.

The Commission is delivering the first full scientific review of what constitutes a healthy diet from a sustainable food system, and which actions can support and speed up food system transformation.

To access the EAT–Lancet Commission Hub page at The Lancet, click here.

For the full report Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems (Walter Willett et al.), click here.

The EAT-Lancet Launch Lecture was held in Oslo and livestreamed on Jan 17, and marked the beginning of a series of global launch events – see overview below.

EAT-Lancet Commission Briefs

EAT-Lancet Commission Brief for Cities

EAT-Lancet Commission Brief for Everyone

EAT-Lancet Commission Brief for Farmers

EAT-Lancet Commission Brief for Food Service Professionals

EAT-Lancet Commission Brief for Healthcare Professionals

EAT-Lancet Commission Brief for Policymakers

Launch Events

The EAT-Lancet Commission Launch in Oslo

The EAT-Lancet Commission Launch in Melbourne

The EAT-Lancet Commission Launch in New York

Meet the scientists behind the report