In October 2025, the EAT–Lancet Commission released EAT–Lancet 2.0, an updated and expanded assessment of what it means to eat for both human and planetary health. Building upon the landmark 2019 EAT–Lancet report (Food in the Anthropocene), the new analysis presents the most comprehensive evidence yet linking dietary patterns, health outcomes, planetary boundaries, and social justice.
The central message remains urgent and clear: transforming food systems is essential to achieve global health and climate goals. However, EAT–Lancet 2.0 extends this message to include a powerful new pillar — justice — recognising that no sustainable food future can exist without fairness, equity, and inclusion.
From Planetary Health Diet to Planetary Justice Diet
At its foundation, the Planetary Health Diet (PHD) continues to represent a nutritionally adequate and environmentally sustainable dietary pattern. It is predominantly plant-based, high in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts, includes moderate quantities of animal-sourced foods, and restricts red and processed meat, added sugars, and saturated fats.
The EAT–Lancet 2.0 Commission reconfirms this dietary model as one of the most evidence-based frameworks for optimising both human and planetary health — but now redefines it within a broader systems context that explicitly includes social foundations such as food access, fair labour, and equitable representation.
How EAT–Lancet 2.0 Differs from the 2019 Report
| Dimension | EAT–Lancet 2019: Food in the Anthropocene | EAT–Lancet 2025: Healthy, Sustainable, and Just Food Systems |
| Scope | Focused on defining a universal healthy diet and quantifying food systems’ environmental impact across five planetary boundaries. | Expands to include all nine planetary boundaries and introduces social foundations — justice, equity, and human rights — as core dimensions. |
| Scientific Modelling | Used single-model environmental and health assessments. | Employs multimodel ensembles (11 global models) to capture uncertainty and variability in health, climate, and socioeconomic outcomes. |
| Dietary Framework | Introduced the Planetary Health Dietas a global reference (flexitarian, plant-rich). | Updates the PHD reference values with new evidence on health outcomes (including dementia, frailty, and processing effects). Emphasises cultural adaptability and nutritional adequacy across regions. |
| Justice & Equity | Mentioned equity implicitly through access to healthy diets. | Positions justice as central, integrating the rights to food, decent work, and a healthy environment; quantifies inequalities in food access and environmental burden. |
| Planetary Boundaries | Quantified five boundaries (climate, land, water, nitrogen, phosphorus). | Quantifies all nine, showing food drives five of six breached boundaries and contributes substantially to a sixth (climate). |
| Health Impact | Estimated up to 11 million avoidable deaths annually through global PHD adoption. | Refines the estimate to ~15 million deaths prevented annually (27% of adult mortality) using new longitudinal data and PHD scoring models. |
| Implementation Pathways | Focused on diet, production, and food waste reduction. | Adds a fourth transformation pillar: justice, including labour rights, representation, and equity. Proposes eight integrated actions to guide policy and finance. |
| Policy Vision | Called for a “Great Food Transformation”. | Reaffirms the transformation but adds monitoring frameworks, financial realignment, and protection from corporate capture in policymaking. |
Together, these updates signify a scientific and ethical evolution — from a primarily environmental–nutritional framework (2019) to a planetary–human rights framework (2025).
Health Impacts: Strengthened Evidence for Mortality Reduction
The EAT–Lancet 2.0 analysis provides stronger, more nuanced evidence for the health benefits of adopting the PHD.
Using updated comparative risk assessments and long-term cohort data (spanning over 30 years of follow-up), the report finds that aligning diets globally with the PHD could prevent approximately 15 million premature deaths annually — up from 11 million estimated in 2019.
Notably, this updated estimate excludes reductions in obesity and overweight — meaning the true benefit may be even greater. The primary health outcomes linked to higher PHD adherence include lower risks of:
- Cardiovascular disease
- Type 2 diabetes
- Colorectal and other diet-related cancers
- Cognitive decline and dementia
- All-cause mortality
These findings support a consistent conclusion: dietary patterns rich in plant foods and lower in red and processed meat are associated with longer life expectancy and improved quality of life across populations.
Planetary Boundaries and Food Systems Pressure
The 2025 Commission provides, for the first time, a quantified assessment of the food system’s share across all nine planetary boundaries. The results are sobering:
- Food systems are responsible for five of six breached planetary boundaries, including land-use change, biosphere integrity, freshwater use, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, and novel entities.
- 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions are attributed to food systems, even before accounting for energy inputs.
- The report warns that no scenario exists in which global climate goals can be met without transforming food systems — even if energy systems fully decarbonise.
This analysis reinforces that food systems are both the problem and the solution: transforming them can simultaneously improve health outcomes, restore ecosystems, and enhance global resilience.
Justice: The Missing Ingredient in Food Transformation
Perhaps the most profound shift in EAT–Lancet 2.0 is its explicit focus on justice. The Commission’s social analysis introduces the concept of nine social foundations necessary to ensure that food systems meet human rights obligations. These include access to healthy diets, decent work, a safe environment, and meaningful representation.
Currently, nearly half of the world’s population falls below these foundations, while the wealthiest 30% of people account for the majority of ecological overshoot. This inequality highlights a dual crisis: environmental unsustainability and social injustice.
By integrating these dimensions, the report reframes the Planetary Health Diet not only as a nutritional goal, but as a moral and governance imperative.
Courtesy of Lancet 2025
Eight Priority Solutions for 2050
The EAT–Lancet 2.0 Commission proposes eight interlinked actions to deliver a just and sustainable food future:
- Enable demand for healthy, sustainable diets through supportive food environments.
- Protect traditional and indigenous diets that embody sustainable practices.
- Accelerate sustainable and ecological intensification in farming.
- Prevent further ecosystem conversion, including deforestation.
- Cut food loss and waste across the value chain.
- Guarantee decent work and fair wages throughout the food system.
- Ensure representation and voice for workers and marginalised groups.
- Safeguard human rights, particularly in vulnerable and conflict-affected regions.
These actions must be adapted to regional contexts and coordinated through science-based national roadmaps, supported by both public and private sector investment.
Economic and Policy Implications
Transforming food systems will require annual investments of US$200–500 billion, yet these costs are modest compared to the estimated US$5 trillion per year in economic returns through improved health, environmental restoration, and productivity.
The Commission emphasises that repurposing current agricultural subsidies—often supporting resource-intensive and polluting production—could provide much of the necessary funding. Aligning financial incentives with health and sustainability goals is identified as one of the most powerful levers for systemic change.
Nutricomms Opinion
We interpret EAT–Lancet 2.0 as a turning point in global nutrition communication — moving from “what to eat” toward “how to transform food systems.”
This evolution underscores our mission: translating complex science into clear, actionable insights that inform public health, corporate strategy, and policy.
The 2025 report reminds us that nutrition communication must now go beyond food choices to include equity, culture, and justice — ensuring that the language of sustainable nutrition reflects both scientific evidence and social responsibility.
As the authors conclude, “Justice is not only an outcome of transformation — it is the force that enables it.”
For nutrition communicators, scientists, and policymakers alike, this marks the next frontier: empowering a global shift toward healthy diets produced, processed, and consumed fairly — within the planet’s limits.
More information:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01201-2/fulltext
