Which Diet Has the Least Environmental Impact on Our Planet? A Systematic Review of Vegan, Vegetarian and Omnivorous Diets

Chai, Bingli Clark; Voort, Johannes Reidar van der; Grofelnik, Kristina; Eliasdottir, Helga Gudny; Klöss, Ines; Pérez-Cueto, Federico J.A.

doi:10.3390/su11154110

Cited by 196 publications

(159 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Founded in 2014, the company aims to become a major fashion accessory player, but with the differential of being a vegan and sustainable brand. It is widely believed today that vegan diets have a positive impact on the environment [104]. However, despite the vegan world being well known in the food industry, it is still emerging and not well understood by the general population in other segments such as the clothing and accessories industries.…”

Section: The Selected Companymentioning

confidence: 99%

Operationalizing Business Model Innovation through Big Data Analytics for Sustainable Organizations

et al. 2019

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Business model innovation is considered key for organizations to achieve sustainability. However, there are many problems involving the operationalization of business model innovation. We used a design science methodology to develop an artifact to assist business model innovation efforts. The artifact uses performance measurement indicators of the company's business model, which are powered by Big Data analytics to endow customer-driven business model innovation. Then, we applied the artifact in a critical case study. The selected company is a fashion ecommerce that proposes a vegan and sustainable value using recycled plastic bottle yarn as raw material, and ensures that no material with animal origin is used. Our findings show that the artifact successfully assists a proactive and continuous effort towards business model innovation. Although based on technical concepts, the artifact is accessible to the context of small businesses, which helps to democratize the practices of business model innovation and Big Data analytics beyond large organizations. We contribute to the business model innovation literature by connecting it to performance management and Big Data and providing paths for its operationalization. Consequently, in practice, the proposed artifact can assist managers dealing with business model as a dynamic element towards a sustainable company.Sustainability 2020, 12, 277 2 of 29 to frequent unsuccessful results about the underlying business logic and, therefore, perpetuating failures that slow down the process of knowledge creation and, thus, undermining possibilities for growth. In this regard, there is a gap between what has been studied in academia and what can be potentially useful for managers willing to innovate their BM [8,9].Thus, BM innovation, validation, and experimentation processes need to be structured and implemented. This is relevant in several industries as the greater frequency of disruption and dislocation are shortening business model life cycles and the sustainability of any specific business model is unclear [10,11]. In a scenario of constant change and need for a better structured management process for BMI, it is important to consider alternatives for testing and experimenting with new alternatives of BM. However, it is not clear in the BMI literature how to do this in the face of the recognized complexity of this process [12,13].Christensen, Bartman, and van Bever [14] argue that there is the need for a systematic mechanism to evaluate the relationship between opportunities and BM. Besides, it is necessary to consider that innovation in BM cannot be generated randomly through guesswork. Nonetheless, Laudien and Daxböck [15] show that, in many cases, innovations in BM are not deliberate strategic options but rather a result of an emergent process, often unplanned. Strategic options, however, are usually related to a company's performance management which means the measurement of a set of indicators on various perspectives of the company [16,17]. In this sense, it seems natura...

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Section: The Selected Companymentioning

confidence: 99%

Operationalizing Business Model Innovation through Big Data Analytics for Sustainable Organizations

et al. 2019

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“…To reduce these environmental burdens, profound changes in the food system are needed, including a shift towards environmentally sustainable diets [1]. These are often regarded as diets causing lower environmental impacts (e.g., [5]), which several studies have identified as diets with a low to moderate amount of meat and animal-based products and a larger share of plant-based Sustainability 2020, 12, 1407 2 of 22 foods than in current diets in many high-income countries [6][7][8][9]. This conclusion was also reached by Martin and Brandão [10], who investigated implications of dietary changes by the Swedish population.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benchmarking the Swedish Diet Relative to Global and National Environmental Targets—Identification of Indicator Limitations and Data Gaps

et al. 2020

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To reduce environmental burdens from the food system, a shift towards environmentally sustainable diets is needed. In this study, the environmental impacts of the Swedish diet were benchmarked relative to global environmental boundaries suggested by the EAT-Lancet Commission. To identify local environmental concerns not captured by the global boundaries, relationships between the global EAT-Lancet variables and the national Swedish Environmental Objectives (SEOs) were analysed and additional indicators for missing aspects were identified. The results showed that the environmental impacts caused by the average Swedish diet exceeded the global boundaries for greenhouse gas emissions, cropland use and application of nutrients by two- to more than four-fold when the boundaries were scaled to per capita level. With regard to biodiversity, the impacts caused by the Swedish diet transgressed the boundary by six-fold. For freshwater use, the diet performed well within the boundary. Comparison of global and local indicators revealed that the EAT-Lancet variables covered many aspects included in the SEOs, but that these global indicators are not always of sufficiently fine resolution to capture local aspects of environmental sustainability, such as eutrophication impacts. To consider aspects and impact categories included in the SEO but not currently covered by the EAT-Lancet variables, such as chemical pollution and acidification, additional indicators and boundaries are needed. This requires better inventory data on e.g., pesticide use and improved traceability for imported foods.

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“…According to research by Chai et al, the dietary patterns of vegetarians, non-vegetarians, and omnivores have different effects on the environment [62]. Therefore, in the following discussion, combined with demographic scenario analysis and different diet patterns, it is more scientific to judge which diet has the least impact on the environment of our planet, so as to make reasonable adjustments to the improvement of the dietary structure.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demographic Scenarios of Future Environmental Footprints of Healthy Diets in China

Han

Chai

Liao

2020

Foods

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Dietary improvement not only benefits human health conditions, but also offers the potential to reduce the human food system’s environmental impact. With the world’s largest population and people’s bourgeoning lifestyle, China’s food system is set to impose increasing pressures on the environment. We evaluated the minimum environmental footprints, including carbon footprint (CF), water footprint (WF) and ecological footprint (EF), of China’s food systems into 2100. The minimum footprints of healthy eating are informative to policymakers when setting the environmental constraints for food systems. The results demonstrate that the minimum CF, WF and EF all increase in the near future and peak around 2030 to 2035, under different population scenarios. After the peak, population decline and aging result in decreasing trends of all environmental footprints until 2100. Considering age-gender specific nutritional needs, the food demands of teenagers in the 14–17 year group require the largest environmental footprints across the three indicators. Moreover, men’s nutritional needs also lead to larger environmental footprints than women’s across all age groups. By 2100, the minimum CF, WF and EF associated with China’s food systems range from 616 to 899 million tons, 654 to 953 km3 and 6513 to 9500 billion gm2 respectively under different population scenarios. This study builds a bridge between demography and the environmental footprints of diet and demonstrates that the minimum environmental footprints of diet could vary by up to 46% in 2100 under different demographic scenarios. The results suggest to policymakers that setting the environmental constraints of food systems should be integrated with the planning of a future demographic path.

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Which Diet Has the Least Environmental Impact on Our Planet? A Systematic Review of Vegan, Vegetarian and Omnivorous Diets

Cited by 196 publications

References 36 publications

Operationalizing Business Model Innovation through Big Data Analytics for Sustainable Organizations

Operationalizing Business Model Innovation through Big Data Analytics for Sustainable Organizations

Benchmarking the Swedish Diet Relative to Global and National Environmental Targets—Identification of Indicator Limitations and Data Gaps

Demographic Scenarios of Future Environmental Footprints of Healthy Diets in China

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