Climates press release

22nd September 2015

A Climatarian diet could help tackle climate change and world hunger

Climatarian, a diet designed to help meat eaters cut their carbon footprint, could also help tackle world hunger and achieve United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDG).

The UN is due to agree the SDGs at a summit starting in New York on Friday, 25 September, including a goals to combat climate change and end hunger.

The climatarian diet was devised by Climates, a new social network, as an easy way for people to save a tonne of CO₂ a year without giving up meat.

But an article by Thomson-Reuters Foundation cites the climatarian diet as also helping to attain the SDG to end world hunger by reducing consumption of ‘ecologically unfriendly’ foods.

A move to foods that require less intensive production, combined with measures to cut food waste and improve distribution are required, says the article. 

Beef and lamb have about five times more climate impact than pork and poultry. This is because ruminant animals - cows, sheep, goats and deer - need more energy intensive feed, use more land and produce more manure than pigs or chickens. Food ferments in their four stomach digestive system, so they burp methane gas, a potent greenhouse gas.

Simply replacing beef and lamb with pork and poultry in everyday meals can cut a tonne of CO₂ from your carbon footprint, equivalent to six short-haul flights or driving 3,500 miles a year. The average footprint in the UK and EU is approximately 10 tonnes while in the US and Australia it is nearer 20 tonnes.

“Going climatarian is a win-win diet: it is good for the climate, it is good for your health and now we know it’s good for other people too,” says Climates founder Biba Hartigan. “By making this easy shift in your eating habits you’re helping make sure nobody has to go hungry in future. This is a simple way for people to support the UN in achieving the sustainable development goals to combat climate change and end hunger.”  

People can find out more and pledge to go Climatarian at www.climates.network/climatarian and receive a handy shopping guide.

Climates is for people who want to take action on climate change in their everyday lives. In a friendly peer to peer support network, Climates puts people with questions in touch with ‘mates’ with the answers, swapping stories, photos, hints and tips to help each other do more.