Environmental assessment of diets: overview and guidance on indicator choice
Review article, 2024

Comprehensive but interpretable assessment of the environmental performance of diets involves choosing a set of appropriate indicators. Current knowledge and data gaps on the origin of dietary foodstuffs restrict use of indicators relying on site-specific information. This Personal View summarises commonly used indicators for assessing the environmental performance of diets, briefly outlines their benefits and drawbacks, and provides recommendations on indicator choices for actors across multiple fields involved in activities that include the environmental assessment of diets. We then provide recommendations on indicator choices for actors across multiple fields involved in activities that use environmental assessments, such as health and nutrition experts, policy makers, decision makers, and private-sector and public-sector sustainability officers. We recommend that environmental assessment of diets should include indicators for at least the five following areas: climate change, biosphere integrity, blue water consumption, novel entities, and impacts on natural resources (especially wild fish stocks), to capture important environmental trade-offs. If more indicators can be handled in the assessment, indicators to capture impacts related to land use quantity and quality and green water consumption should be used. For ambitious assessments, indicators related to biogeochemical flows, stratospheric ozone depletion, and energy use can be added.

Author

Ylva Ran

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)

Christel Cederberg

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Physical Resource Theory

Malin Jonell

Stockholm Resilience Centre

The Royal Swedish Academy of Science

Kristina Bergman

Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)

I. de Boer

Wageningen University and Research

Rasmus Einarsson

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)

Johan O. Karlsson

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)

Hanna Karlsson Potter

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)

Michael Martin

IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute

Geneviève S. Metson

Western University

Linköping University

Thomas Nemecek

Forschungsanstalt Agroscope Reckenholz-Tanikon

Kimberly A. Nicholas

Lund University

Åsa Strand

IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute

Pernilla Tidåker

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)

H. M. G. van der Werf

National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE)

Davy Vanham

Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, ISPRA

Hannah H.E. Van Zanten

Wageningen University and Research

Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

F Verones

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

Elin Röös

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)

The Lancet Planetary Health

25425196 (eISSN)

Vol. 8 3 e172-e187

Subject Categories

Other Environmental Engineering

Environmental Sciences

DOI

10.1016/S2542-5196(24)00006-8

PubMed

38453383

More information

Latest update

3/15/2024