King’s College London research highlights need to align diets with climate and health goals

Researchers at King’s College London have emphasized the need for closer alignment between dietary guidelines, climate targets, and public health as global food systems face mounting pressure to become more sustainable.

• Researchers at King’s College London have highlighted the need for dietary change to address climate and health challenges simultaneously.

• New research initiatives are examining plant-rich diets, alternative proteins, and sustainable food system practices.

• Food systems account for roughly 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to recent research.

The call comes amid growing evidence that food production and consumption patterns play a major role in climate change, with global food systems estimated to account for around 30% of greenhouse gas emissions.

Professor Wendy Hall, Professor of Nutritional Sciences at King’s College London, said sustainable dietary change must address both environmental and health outcomes.

“The science is clear that diets higher in plant-based foods and lower in meat are essential if we are serious about tackling climate change,” Hall wrote in a commentary published by King’s.

Recent research from the EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems, published in October 2025, reinforced this conclusion through updated modeling of global food system scenarios.

The report suggested that plant-rich diets could feed up to 9.6 billion people by 2050 while staying within planetary boundaries, including limits on climate emissions, biodiversity loss, and nitrogen pollution.

However, researchers emphasize that the shift toward plant-rich diets is more complex than simply reducing meat consumption.

While lowering ruminant meat consumption remains central to most climate strategies, Hall noted that animal-source foods also provide important nutrients, including iron, vitamin B12, and high-quality protein.

This creates a policy challenge: how to reduce environmental impacts while ensuring nutritional adequacy across populations.

“If dietary shifts are not carefully designed, there is a real risk that well-intentioned climate action could unintentionally worsen health inequalities,” Hall wrote.

At King’s, researchers are addressing this challenge through a new interdisciplinary research initiative focused on sustainable nutrition.

The FoLSM Research Interest Group – Safe and SUstainable Diets for a healthy body and mind (SSuDs) brings together researchers from nutritional sciences, clinical medicine, behavioral science, and food systems research.

The program is exploring how dietary changes can simultaneously reduce environmental impacts and support disease prevention and management.

Rather than focusing only on reducing meat consumption, the research is examining a broader set of potential dietary pathways.

These include whole plant foods, plant-based meat alternatives, insect-based ingredients, and hybrid approaches combining multiple protein sources.

Researchers are also investigating how sustainable diets function in real-world settings, including consumer behavior, affordability, and cultural preferences.

At King’s, the campus itself is being used as a testbed for these ideas.

Through collaboration with King’s Food, the university’s catering operation, researchers are testing approaches such as plant-forward menus, food waste reduction, and root-to-tip cooking.

These initiatives allow researchers to evaluate how sustainable food choices can become normal and appealing in everyday food environments.

In parallel, King’s Climate & Sustainability funding has supported exploratory research into insects as potential protein sources, which could provide additional protein and micronutrients such as iron, calcium, and vitamin B12.

Although insect-based foods remain niche in many Western markets, researchers suggest they may become an important ingredient category in future sustainable food systems.

Ultimately, Hall said the success of sustainable dietary transitions will depend not only on nutritional science but also on social and cultural realities.

“A recurring lesson from our work is that dietary change isn’t just about nutrients or emissions,” she wrote.

“Cost, convenience, culture, family life, identity and trust all shape what ends up on the plate.”

As governments, industry and researchers consider the future of food systems, Hall argued that dietary guidance must balance environmental goals with nutritional needs and practical implementation.

“Sustainable diets are not a finished product; they are evolving,” she wrote. “To accelerate adoption, we need evidence-led solutions that balance climate goals with health, equity and feasibility.”