Co-benefits of the EAT-Lancet diet for environmental protection in the framework of the Spanish dietary pattern

Abstract

The immediate need to build resilient food systems with lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and protection of water resources is a global challenge. To address this, the EAT-Lancet Commission described the global reference diet with principles of nutritional quality and environmental sustainability. With this in mind, the carbon and water footprints of the current Spanish dietary pattern have been compared with the EAT-Lancet global dietary recommendations, taking into account deviations in food intake. To provide additional context, differences between the average Spanish dietary pattern and dietary guidelines applied in other countries in Europe (Italy, the Netherlands and the Mediterranean region) and America have also been analyzed and discussed from a sustainability approach. We found that the EAT-Lancet diet requires less water resources (3056 L·person^-1·day^-1) and lower level of GHG emissions (2.13 kgCO₂eq·person^-1·day^-1) in comparison with the Spanish dietary pattern (3732 L·person^-1·day^-1 and 3.62 kgCO₂eq·person^-1·day^-1, respectively). Starch-based products and oils and fats were identified as largest contributors to both environmental indicators in the EAT-Lancet diet. On the other hand, meat and dairy were the environmental hotspots in the Spanish dietary pattern. Comparison with other food-based dietary patterns also raises environmental concerns about the high meat consumption in Spain. Overall, this analysis suggests that reducing the consumption of beef meat and dairy to a level in line with the global environmental targets set by the EAT-Lancet Commission would ensure a shift in Spanish dietary habits towards more environmentally sustainable food consumption patterns.

Keywords: Carbon footprint; Dietary recommendations; Spanish eating habits; Sustainable healthy diet; Water footprint.