Ambitious food system interventions required to mitigate the risk of exceeding Earth’s environmental limits

Summary

This 2025 modelling study by an international research consortium examines the scale and scope of food system transformation required to remain within Earth's critical environmental limits whilst sustaining human nutrition and food security. The analysis integrates multiple intervention pathways—including dietary shifts, changes to agricultural production intensity, and waste reduction—to identify which combinations of policies and behaviours can simultaneously address climate change, land degradation, freshwater stress, and nutrient cycling. The research suggests that single-sector or single-lever interventions are insufficient, and that coordinated action across production, consumption, and waste management is essential to achieve sustainability.

UK applicability

The findings are applicable to UK food policy and agriculture, particularly regarding the need for integrated strategies spanning dietary guidance, farm practice reform, and supply-chain efficiency. However, the global modelling may require contextualisation to UK-specific environmental pressures (notably soil health and water quality in lowland arable regions) and policy frameworks (CAP successor schemes, net-zero commitments).

Key measures

Planetary boundary metrics (greenhouse gas emissions, land-use change, freshwater depletion, nutrient pollution); dietary adequacy; food security indicators; synergies and trade-offs across intervention scenarios

Outcomes reported

The study modelled multiple food system intervention levers and their combined effects on staying within critical planetary boundaries (climate, land use, freshwater, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles). It assessed trade-offs and synergies between dietary change, agricultural intensification or extensification, and food waste reduction in achieving environmental sustainability whilst maintaining nutritional adequacy and food security.

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