Feature: The global impact of food production and consumption on climate, air pollution, and diet, malnutrition and obesity.

A new paper by SEI's Chris Malley in Nature Sustainability discusses the link between global food production and consumption, human health, and global emissions.  Malley proposes a new model that integrates assessment of agricultural systems on:

• human health indirectly through dietary, obesity and malnutrition health risks from food consumption;
• human health directly through exposure to agricultural air pollutant emissions; and
• greenhouse gas emissions.

In the model, national food demand is the starting point from which the livestock and crop production systems that meet this are represented. The model is applied for 2014–2018 to assess the robustness of the GHG emissions and health burden results that this integrated modelling framework produces compared to previous studies that have quantified these variables independently.

"Changing global food consumption patterns towards healthier diets would see reductions in air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions"

- Chris Malley, lead author of the study

Using the model provides opportunities to design integrated strategies that mitigate climate change and improve human health and also highlight possible trade-offs that the expansion of agricultural production could have due to increased emissions. 

Read more on the SEI website feature, and interview with the lead author.