The 2025 EAT-Lancet commission explained
08 October 2025Reshaping food systems could deliver returns of $5 trillion per year, more than ten times the $200-500 billion investment needed to drive change.
EAT- Lancet Commission overview
The second EAT-Lancet Commission arrives six years after its 2019 predecessor. It proposes the boundaries on how 9.6 billion people can eat nutritiously and equitably within environmental boundaries by 2050. The new report draws on the expertise of leading scientists and policy specialists from over 35 countries across six continents.
At its core, EAT-Lancet 2.0 reinforces the message: the way the world currently produces and consumes food is exceeding planetary boundaries. A planetary boundary is a process that defines the safe limit that humans can operate within, for example how much fresh water can be used to maintain the food system while avoiding reducing the availability for future years.
The headline findings
The food system is the main contributor to the overshoot of five out of nine planetary boundaries: including climate change, freshwater use, nutrient pollution and biodiversity loss.
Reshaping systems could deliver returns of $5 trillion per year, through better health, restored ecosystems, and climate resilience, more than ten times the $200-500 billion investment needed to drive food systems change.
Fewer than 1% of the world’s population is currently in the ‘safe and just space’ defined as the population experiencing equal benefits and exerting the same pressures on the food system.
The wealthiest 30% of people are responsible for more than 70% of food-related environmental impacts.
32% of food system workers earn below a living wage, while women earn half of what men earn.
Key changes from the 2019 report
The planetary healthy diet (PHD), proposed in 2019, was reaffirmed by a growing evidence base in the intervening period between the reports.
The number of planetary boundaries the food system was assessed against increased from five to nine.
The food system drives five planetary boundary transgressions, namely land use, biodiversity, climate change, biogeochemical flows (through phosphorus and nitrogen fertilisers) and blue water.
The integration of social justice, determining how access to nutritious food varies by income, gender and geography.
The introduction of regional models and a greater emphasis on traditional diets, recognising that transformation must be grounded in local food cultures rather than a single, generalisable solution.
Planetary Health Diet (PHD)
The EAT Lancet report includes an updated PHD, which sets out a recommended per capita intake for key food groups. The recommended diet is predominantly plant-based, with a reduction in animal-sourced foods and minimal consumption of added sugars, saturated fat and salt.
Food group | Per capita recommended intake (g/day [range]) | Per capita recommended intake (kcal/day) |
Plant foods | ||
Whole grains | 210 (20–50% of daily energy intake) | 735 |
Tubers and starchy roots e.g., potatoes | 50 (0–100) | 50 |
Vegetables | 300 (200–600) | 95 |
Fruits | 200 (100–300) | 145 |
Tree nuts and peanuts | 50 (0–75) | 275 |
Legumes | 75 (0–150) | 275 |
Animal-sourced foods | ||
Milk or equivalents e.g., cheese | 250 (0–500) | 145 |
Chicken and other poultry | 30 (0–60) | 60 |
Fish and shellfish | 30 (0–100) | 25 |
Eggs | 15 (0–25) | 20 |
Beef, pork, or lamb | 15 (0–30) | 45 |
Fats, sugar, and salt | ||
Unsaturated plant oils | 40 (20–80) | 355 |
Palm and coconut oil | 6 (0–8) | 55 |
Sugar (added or free) | 30 (0–30) | 115 |
Dietary targets for a healthy reference diet for adults, with possible ranges, for a population-level energy intake of approximately 2400 kcal/day
Implementing the PHD would require a 33% global reduction in ruminant meat production (cows, sheep, goats), and a 63% increase in fruits, vegetables and nuts. At the same time, the report projects that the number of ruminant animals would fall by 26%, while fish and aquatic food production could rise by 46%.
Transitioning to the PHD could prevent 15 million deaths every year, around 27% of global mortality, and lead to a 15% reduction in agricultural emissions.
What does this mean for the food industry?
EAT-Lancet 2.0 signals the continued convergence of health and sustainability, reinforcing what the heath and sustainability experts have long recognised: that the path to healthy, sustainable diets requires systemic transformation.
While the report is not a policy document, it acts as a scientific blueprint that could inform governments, investors and wider stakeholders, all of whom increasingly expect the food industry to demonstrate alignment with planetary health principles. The average UK diet remains far from the PHD recommendations, for example 96% of adults don’t consume enough fibre and the majority (83%) don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables. The question remains whether the PHD is the best template to aspire to for the diet transition or whether it’s one of the many alternatives such as the Eatwell Guide, Livewell or One Blue Dot.
Regardless, the UK is well-positioned to lead, with many companies having already taken voluntary steps that align with EAT-Lancet principles from reducing the proportion of HFSS products in a portfolio, to increasing the amount of plant based products, to committing to Net Zero targets. Major retailers and manufacturers have also worked to make healthier, more sustainable choices easier to access through price, product, placement and reformulation.
IGD’s work shows that collaboration between industry, government and academia can accelerate change. As the science evolves, so must the food system. The question is not whether transformation will happen, but how quickly the food industry can drive it.
To find out more about how to drive this change you can read a Framework for population diet change and Net Zero Transition Plan for the UK Food System.