Vegan Diet Cuts Carbon Emissions 46% In New Study

Adopting a vegan diet could reduce carbon emissions by 46 percent compared to a Mediterranean diet while delivering nearly all essential nutrients.

According to a study published in Frontiers in Nutrition on November 10.

The research, led by Dr. Noelia Rodriguez-Martín of the Spanish National Research Council and University of Granada, designed four nutritionally balanced weekly menus to compare the environmental impact of omnivorous, pesco-vegetarian, ovo-lacto-vegetarian, and vegan diets.

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The study found that transitioning from a Mediterranean omnivorous diet to a vegan diet resulted in daily greenhouse gas emissions dropping from 3.8 kilograms to 2.1 kilograms of CO2 equivalents per person—a 46 percent reduction. Water use decreased by 7 percent, from 10.2 to 9.5 cubic meters per day, while land use fell by 33 percent. Pesco-vegetarian diets produced 3.2 kilograms of daily CO2 equivalents, and ovo-lacto-vegetarian diets generated 2.6 kilograms, representing carbon reductions of up to 35 percent.

Nutritional Balance Maintained Across Plant-Based Diets

Each menu was designed to deliver 2,000 kilocalories daily and followed recommendations from the Spanish Society for Community Nutrition, the European Food Safety Authority, and the US National Academy of Medicine. The three plant-based menus met nearly all nutritional requirements, with only vitamin D, iodine, and vitamin B12 needing extra attention—nutrients that can be addressed through supplements or fortified foods.

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“We compared diets with the same amount of calories and found that moving from a Mediterranean to a vegan diet generated 46 percent less CO2 while using 33 percent less land and seven percent less water,” Rodriguez-Martín said. The vegan diet also achieved more than a 50 percent reduction in several ecosystem impact indicators and a greater than 55 percent decrease in disease incidence compared to the omnivorous baseline.

Incremental Changes Offer Environmental Benefits

The researchers emphasized that full adoption of veganism is not necessary to achieve environmental benefits. “You don’t need to go fully vegan to make a difference,” Rodriguez-Martín said. “Even small steps toward a more plant-based diet reduce emissions and save resources.”

The study arrives as global veganism grows, with approximately 1.1 percent of the world’s population now identifying as vegan. In January 2025, roughly 25.8 million people worldwide participated in Veganuary, a 35 percent increase from 2024, wrote Perplexity.