Our health, our environment: The Ecological Footprint of what we eat

This research paper evaluates the Ecological Footprint of various diets and food production methods, specifically comparing average UK consumption with nutritionally recommended diets. Using the REAP software tool and input-output analysis, the study finds that shifting toward healthy, plant-based, local, and organic diets can significantly reduce environmental pressure while improving public health outcomes.

• Adopting a diet that follows nutrition recommendations can reduce the Ecological Footprint by 22% compared to the average UK diet, despite the healthy diet involving a higher total amount of food consumed in tonnes.
• Meat consumption is the primary driver of the Ecological Footprint in the average UK diet, accounting for nearly half of the total impacts (46%). This is attributed to the land required for fodder and the energy used in production, processing, and distribution.
• A healthy vegetarian diet can reduce the Ecological Footprint by 40% when compared to a healthy low-meat diet that also meets nutrition recommendations.
• The study identifies an 'ideal' or 'best' diet—one that is healthy, vegetarian, local, and organic—which could reduce the UK food Footprint by approximately 44% per capita.
• Local food consumption significantly lowers environmental impact compared to imports; if all food consumed in the UK were produced domestically, the per capita food Footprint would decrease by 57% compared to a diet based entirely on imports.
• In a comparison of Scottish school menus, a menu meeting 'Hungry for Success' (H4S) nutritional standards had a Footprint 42% lower than a typical pre-H4S menu and contained 83% fewer added fats.
• While UK-specific data is limited, the paper cites a hybrid study from Australia indicating that conventional farming systems have significantly higher total impact intensities than organic systems, with energy intensity 56% higher and greenhouse gas intensity 211% higher.

APA

Frey, S., & Barrett, J. (2007). Our health, our environment: The Ecological Footprint of what we eat. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/our-health-our-environment-ecological-footprin.pdf

Chicago

Frey, Sibylle, and John Barrett. Our health, our environment: The Ecological Footprint of what we eat. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2007. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/our-health-our-environment-ecological-footprin.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Frey |first1=Sibylle |last2=Barrett |first2=John |title=Our health, our environment: The Ecological Footprint of what we eat |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=May 2007 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/our-health-our-environment-ecological-footprin.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{frey2007our, author = {Frey, Sibylle and Barrett, John}, title = {{Our health, our environment: The Ecological Footprint of what we eat}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2007}, month = may, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/our-health-our-environment-ecological-footprin.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }