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The EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems

Authors
/persons/resource/johan.rockstrom

Rockström,  Johan       
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

Thilsted,  Shakuntala Haraksingh
External Organizations;

Willett,  Walter C.
External Organizations;

Gordon,  Line J.
External Organizations;

Herrero,  Mario
External Organizations;

Hicks,  Christina C.
External Organizations;

Mason-D'Croz,  Daniel
External Organizations;

Rao,  Nitya
External Organizations;

Springmann,  Marco
External Organizations;

Wright,  Ellen Cecilie
External Organizations;

Agustina,  Rina
External Organizations;

Bajaj,  Sumati
External Organizations;

Bunge,  Anne Charlotte
External Organizations;

Carducci,  Bianca
External Organizations;

Conti,  Costanza
External Organizations;

Covic,  Namukolo
External Organizations;

Fanzo,  Jessica
External Organizations;

Forouhi,  Nita G
External Organizations;

Gibson,  Matthew F.
External Organizations;

Gu,  Xiao
External Organizations;

Kebreab,  Ermias
External Organizations;

Kremen,  Claire
External Organizations;

Laila,  Amar
External Organizations;

Laxminarayan,  Ramanan
External Organizations;

Marteau,  Theresa M.
External Organizations;

Monteiro,  Carlos A.
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/anna.norberg

Norberg,  Anna       
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

Njuki,  Jemimah
External Organizations;

Oliveira,  Thais Diniz
External Organizations;

Pan,  Wen-Harn
External Organizations;

Rivera,  Juan A.
External Organizations;

Robinson,  James P. W.
External Organizations;

Sundiang,  Marina
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/sofie.te.wierik

te Wierik,  Sofie       
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

van Vuuren,  Detlef P.
External Organizations;

Vermeulen,  Sonja
External Organizations;

Webb,  Patrick
External Organizations;

Alqodmani,  Lujain
External Organizations;

Ambikapathi,  Ramya
External Organizations;

Barnhill,  Anne
External Organizations;

Baudish,  Isabel
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/felicitas.beier

Beier,  Felicitas       
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

Beillouin,  Damien
External Organizations;

Beusen,  Arthur H. W.
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/jannes.breier

Breier,  Jannes       
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

Chemarin,  Charlotte
External Organizations;

Chepeliev,  Maksym
External Organizations;

Clapp,  Jennifer
External Organizations;

de Vries,  Wim
External Organizations;

Pérez-Domínguez,  Ignacio
External Organizations;

Estrada-Carmona,  Natalia
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/Dieter.Gerten

Gerten,  Dieter       
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

Golden,  Christopher D.
External Organizations;

Jones,  Sarah K.
External Organizations;

Jørgensen,  Peter Søgaard
External Organizations;

Kozicka,  Marta
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/Lotze-Campen

Lotze-Campen,  Hermann       
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

Maggi,  Federico
External Organizations;

Marzi,  Emma
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/Abhijeet.Mishra

Mishra,  Abhijeet       
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

Orduna-Cabrera,  Fernando
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/Alexander.Popp

Popp,  Alexander       
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

Schulte-Uebbing,  Lena
External Organizations;

Stehfest,  Elke
External Organizations;

Tang,  Fiona H. M.
External Organizations;

Tsuchiya,  Kazuaki
External Organizations;

Van Zanten,  Hannah H. E.
External Organizations;

van Zeist,  Willem-Jan
External Organizations;

Zhao,  Xin
External Organizations;

DeClerck,  Fabrice
External Organizations;

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Citation

Rockström, J., Thilsted, S. H., Willett, W. C., Gordon, L. J., Herrero, M., Hicks, C. C., Mason-D'Croz, D., Rao, N., Springmann, M., Wright, E. C., Agustina, R., Bajaj, S., Bunge, A. C., Carducci, B., Conti, C., Covic, N., Fanzo, J., Forouhi, N. G., Gibson, M. F., Gu, X., Kebreab, E., Kremen, C., Laila, A., Laxminarayan, R., Marteau, T. M., Monteiro, C. A., Norberg, A., Njuki, J., Oliveira, T. D., Pan, W.-H., Rivera, J. A., Robinson, J. P. W., Sundiang, M., te Wierik, S., van Vuuren, D. P., Vermeulen, S., Webb, P., Alqodmani, L., Ambikapathi, R., Barnhill, A., Baudish, I., Beier, F., Beillouin, D., Beusen, A. H. W., Breier, J., Chemarin, C., Chepeliev, M., Clapp, J., de Vries, W., Pérez-Domínguez, I., Estrada-Carmona, N., Gerten, D., Golden, C. D., Jones, S. K., Jørgensen, P. S., Kozicka, M., Lotze-Campen, H., Maggi, F., Marzi, E., Mishra, A., Orduna-Cabrera, F., Popp, A., Schulte-Uebbing, L., Stehfest, E., Tang, F. H. M., Tsuchiya, K., Van Zanten, H. H. E., van Zeist, W.-J., Zhao, X., DeClerck, F. (2025): The EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems. - The Lancet, 406, 10512, 1625-1700.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01201-2


Cite as: https://publications.pik-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_33261
Abstract
The global context has shifted dramatically since publication of the first EAT–Lancet Commission in 2019, with increased geopolitical instability, soaring food prices, and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating existing vulnerabilities and creating new challenges. However, food systems remain squarely centred at the nexus of food security, human health, environmental sustainability, social justice, and the resilience of nations. Actions on food systems strongly impact the lives and wellbeing of all and are necessary to progress towards goals highlighted in the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement, and the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Although current food systems have largely kept pace with population growth, ensuring sufficient caloric intake for many, they are the single most influential driver of planetary boundary transgression. More than half of the world's population struggles to access healthy diets, leading to devastating consequences for public health, social equity, and the environment. Although hunger has declined in some regions, recent increases linked to expanding conflicts and emergent climate change impacts have reversed this positive trend. Obesity rates continue to rise globally, and the pressure exerted by food systems on planetary boundaries shows no signs of abating. In this moment of increasing instability, food systems still offer an unprecedented opportunity to build the resilience of environmental, health, economic, and social systems, and are uniquely placed to enhance human wellbeing while also contributing to Earth-system stability.
This updated analysis builds upon the 2019 EAT–Lancet Commission, expanding its scope and strengthening its evidence base. The first Commission defined food group ranges for a healthy diet and identified the food systems' share of planetary boundaries. In this Commission, we add an analysis of the social foundations for a just food system, and incorporate new data and perspectives on distributive, representational, and recognitional justice, providing a global overview on equity in food systems. Substantial improvements in modelling capacity and data analysis allow for the use of a multimodel ensemble to project potential outcomes of a transition to healthy and sustainable food systems.
The planetary health diet (PHD) remains a cornerstone of our recommendations and can be seen as a framework within which diverse and culturally appropriate diets can exist. Robust updated evidence reinforces a strong association with improved health outcomes, large reductions in all-cause mortality, and a substantial decline in the incidence of major diet-related chronic diseases. The reference PHD emphasises a balanced dietary pattern that is predominantly plant-based, with moderate inclusion of animal-sourced foods and minimal consumption of added sugars, saturated fats, and salt. Successful implementation of the PHD requires careful consideration of cultural contexts and the promotion of culturally appropriate and sustainable dietary traditions. This diversity of contexts, bounded by the PHD's reference values, represents substantial flexibility and choice across cultures, geographies, and individual preferences. However, when confronted by climate, biodiversity, health, and justice crises, transformation will require urgent and meaningful changes in our individual and collective behaviours and our culture of unhealthy, unjust, and unsustainable food production and consumption.
For the first time, we quantify the global food systems' share of all nine planetary boundaries. These food system boundaries confirm that food is the single largest cause of planetary boundary transgressions, driving the transgression of five of the six breached boundaries. In addition, food systems exert a notable impact on the transgressed climate boundary and on the ocean acidification boundary. Unsustainable land conversion, particularly deforestation, remains a major driver of biodiversity loss and climate change, highlighting the need for zero conversion of all remaining intact ecosystems. Food systems account for the near totality of nitrogen and phosphorus boundary transgression, emphasising the improvements needed in nutrient management, efficient nutrient redistribution, and circular nutrient systems. The massive use of novel entities in food production, processing, and packaging (ranging from plastics to pesticides) remains a major concern but is alarmingly understudied.
Our assessment of justice integrates three dimensions—distributive, representational, and recognitional—within a human rights framing that includes the rights to food, a healthy environment, and decent work. Analyses reveal important inequities in access to healthy diets, decent work conditions, and healthy environments, disproportionately affecting marginalised groups in low-income regions. We therefore propose nine social foundations that enable these rights to be met, and are able to assess the global status of six. Enabling access to, affordability of, and demand for healthy diets is paramount. Equally crucial is the right to live and work within a non-toxic environment and a stable climate system, as we recognise the profound impact of environmental degradation on human health and wellbeing. Furthermore, a living wage and meaningful representation would allow individuals to actively participate in building healthy, sustainable, and just food systems. However, nearly half of the world's population falls below these social foundations, undermining their ability to meet basic human rights. At the same time, the dietary patterns of most (6·9 billion people) of the world exert pressures that threaten further planetary boundary transgression. The destabilising effect of unhealthy overconsumption on the Earth's systems highlights the importance of viewing healthy diets not just as a human right, but also as a shared responsibility.