Environmental Impact of Animal-Based Food Production and the Feasibility of a Shift Toward Sustainable Plant-Based Diets in the United States

TLDR

Plant‑based diets are linked to human and planetary health benefits, yet shifting from animal‑based production—responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions, land degradation, and water scarcity—requires careful consideration of nutrition and resource use, and is being supported by national, state, and local policies that promote plant foods but often lack explicit sustainability guidance. This mini‑review evaluates policy reforms and behavioral interventions, guided by the social‑ecological model, to assess their effectiveness and limitations in fostering a sustainable plant‑based dietary shift in the United States. The authors conduct a mini‑review of policy reforms and behavioral interventions, applying the social‑ecological model to analyze their potential to encourage sustainable plant‑based diets. They conclude that transforming the food system toward plant‑based diets requires multi‑sector collaboration and context‑specific policies to address climate concerns while balancing health, social, and financial constraints.

Abstract

Evidence consistently suggests that plant-based diets promote human and planetary health. Reducing large-scale animal-based food production generates environmental benefits, as the entire livestock agriculture chain plays an outsized role in greenhouse gas emissions, land change and degradation, and scarcity-weighted water use. However, substituting animal products with their plant-based counterparts must come with consideration of the nutritional quality and resource usage of plant-based food production and processing operations. Several policy reforms have been implemented at the national, state, and municipal levels in the United States to support a transition toward more plant-based diets. Federal programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans generally promote the consumption of unprocessed plant-based foods but include little to no information on sustainability and the harmful environmental impact of animal-based foods. National policies are complemented by state efforts aimed at incentivizing produce purchased from local suppliers and encouraging resource-conserving agriculture. At the local level, public schools are implementing programs to promote plant-based protein on their menus, and urban gardens are sprouting across the country to increase access to organic farming. This mini-review examines these policy reforms and behavioral intervention strategies, based on the social-ecological model, and discuss their capacity and limitations to promote a shift toward sustainably produced plant-based diets in the United States. We conclude that transforming the food systems toward plant-based diets in the animal-centered United States requires multi-sector collaboration and context-specific policy solutions to address diet-related climate concerns without neglecting health, social, and financial constraints.