Summary
This study employs life cycle assessment principles and economic monetarisation to quantify the hidden production-related costs of global food systems, estimating US$14.0 trillion in externalities embedded in 2018 food expenditure. The authors demonstrate that shifting diets away from animal-sourced foods could reduce these costs by up to US$7.3 trillion whilst curbing emissions, and highlight that including production-stage health effects substantially strengthens the case for plant-based dietary change, particularly in high and upper-middle-income countries.
UK applicability
The findings are relevant to UK food policy and public health discourse, as the United Kingdom is a high-income country where dietary shifts towards plant-based foods could deliver substantial economic and health co-benefits. However, the analysis is globally scaled; country-specific modelling would be needed to quantify UK-applicable externality savings and to account for domestic farming contexts, land-use patterns, and health system structures.
Key measures
US$ per dollar of food expenditure (external costs); total global externalities (US$ trillion); potential savings from dietary shift (US$ trillion); health burden and ecosystem degradation quantified via monetarisation factors
Outcomes reported
The study quantified the monetary value of production-related external costs (health burden and ecosystem degradation) embedded in global food expenditure in 2018, and modelled potential cost savings from dietary shifts towards plant-based foods. The analysis compared health benefits measured at both the consumption and production stages of dietary change.
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