This WWF Eating for Net Zero report investigates how dietary shift could reduce the climate and nature impacts of the UK food system and demonstrates that a healthy, sustainable, socially acceptable diet for the UK population is possible.

This diet – Livewell – is a flexible diet that includes a wide variety of foods. It is rich in plants, including fruit, vegetables, pulses, and wholegrains; contains moderate amounts of meat, dairy and eggs, and sustainably sourced lower footprint seafood; and minimal amounts of products high in fat, salt and sugar. Transitioning to this diet will deliver health benefits, and it is imperative from an environmental perspective.

Adopting Livewell recommendations could deliver a 36% reduction in emissions and a 20% reduction in biodiversity loss compared to the current average diet, while also enabling the shift to net-zero and nature-positive farming and food production. Adoption at scale would deliver benefits for people as well as planet. It would lessen the burden on the NHS, which currently spends an estimated £6 billion annually on diet-related illness and obesity.

Key Messages

Aligning the national diet with Livewell recommendations would be a triple win for climate, nature and people. This creates a synergy, linking the health of the planet with our own:

• Shifting to a healthier, more sustainable diet can unlock opportunities to transform agriculture.
• Achieving a healthy, sustainable diet for the UK population is possible within current social norms and without costing more.
• Diets are not just a question of personal preferences; food choices are deeply influenced by what’s available, affordable and accessible, and how it’s marketed. 
• Healthy, sustainable food should be accessible and affordable for everyone, both now and in the future.
• We need an urgent focus on shifting to healthy, sustainable diets between now and 2030 to support a nature-positive Net Zero transition in the UK.

What WWF Investigated

WWF-UK commissioned Blonk Sustainability Tools to model a diet that would meet UK government nutritional recommendations and be socially acceptable (not deviating drastically from the current average diet, and not costing more), while minimising greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts – we call this the Livewell diet.

The research compared the Livewell diet to the current average diet, based on National Diet and Nutrition Survey data of more than 3,000 food products eaten by the UK population, including food produced domestically and imported food.

Already have an account? Login