Lifestyle changes offer direct path to emissions cuts, study finds

Agriculture and land use are responsible for nearly a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

A shift in lifestyles, such as wasting less food and eating more plant-based meals are key to getting the world on track to meet the Paris Agreement commitments, according to a study published on Wednesday.

While countries have set emission targets to help the world meet the goal of limiting global warming to a maximum of 2C (3.6F), “it’s very unclear how you would actually make progress towards these targets and eventually achieve them,” said Bjoern Soergel, a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and the study’s lead author.

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To provide clarity, Soergel and his colleagues analysed three pathways to reduce emissions and meet the sustainable development goals set in 2015. All three scenarios were designed to help countries reduce emissions in line with the Paris Agreement and meet the Sustainable Development Goals that focus on improving wellbeing agreed to in 2015.

Researchers found that the pathway focused on lifestyle changes was the least dependent on novel technologies while also having the greatest additional positive outcomes for biodiversity and climate protection.

In this scenario, consumption drops in the Global North, a polarising idea known as post-growth. Those in favour of post-growth — which involves shifting from GDP as the main economic metric to a more holistic view — argue that humans can’t reduce their ecological impact without moving away from an economic mandate of perpetual growth. Instead, proponents argue, the richest countries should cut consumption and move toward a circular economy.

In practice, this could include “a rapid shift” to a largely plant-based diet that would cut emissions and “have substantial benefits for human health,” Isabelle Weindl, a senior scientist at Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and co-author of the study, said in a statement.

Agriculture and land use are responsible for nearly a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Raising animals is a particularly large source, especially cattle. Other analyses have found that replacing beef with another protein for a single meal can cut someone’s daily carbon footprint in half.

The research also found dietary shifts would require less land for agriculture, freeing up by midcentury between 325 and 705 million hectares — an area roughly on par with India or Australia. That would help increase natural ecosystem regrowth and improve biodiversity.

Material waste — including food waste — would also decline in the post-growth scenario, while recycling increases. Transportation would shift to reflect regional needs with urban areas experiencing a decline in car ownership. Income inequality would rapidly fall as well.

In contrast, under the economic growth-focused pathway, most of the emissions cuts would come from technological advances. Growth would continue unabated and diets wouldn’t change significantly. The third pathway the researchers analyzed was a policy-focused scenario with relatively low income growth in the Global North that resulted in a more middle-of-the-road outcome.

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While each of the pathways have benefits, they also have drawbacks.

The economy-driven approach is dependent on technologies that don’t work at scale. That includes carbon capture and storage, which Soergel pointed out is still “in the technological development phase. There are small demonstration plants, but nothing at scale.”

The post-growth approach “makes the steepest assumptions on lifestyle change,” says Soergel. The biggest issue is whether people will undertake the changes necessary in wealthy countries.

One thing is clear in the study, though: “All three of these sustainable development pathways really fare much better than a business-as-usual scenario,” says Soergel. “The most important thing is that we actually start to embark on this transformation towards sustainable development and the Paris Agreement because continuing with business as usual is the worst of all.”

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