Modelling to assist Australia's transition to a more environmentally sustainable diet

With predicted global population growth and the urgent need to limit the rise in global temperatures, the transition to dietary patterns that are both healthy and environmentally sustainable is a key challenge of our time. By 2030, Australia has committed to a 43 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels.

Leading organisations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have advised reducing intake of animal-source food such as meat and dairy, and increased consumption of plant-based foods to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Policy instruments under consideration to encourage populations to adopt more plant-based diets include:

• taxes on food products
• food regulations
• food labelling
• food procurement policies – for example, policies specifying criteria for foods served or sold in public settings or purchased with government funds such as at hospitals, schools, childcare facilities and sporting venues)
• regulations around the marketing of food
• development of sustainable dietary guidelines and 'green nudges.'

We aim to apply state-of-the-art modelling techniques and data sources to build a dietary modelling tool. This tool can be used to predict the nutritional implications of policies and public health messages aimed at encouraging the Australian population to transition to a more environmentally sustainable diet.

The project brings together expertise in human nutrition, environmental sustainability and food, meat, and meat-analogue science with MDAP’s expertise in computational modelling and simulation, and modelling experience from other health-related disciplines. Outcomes from this research will include evidence to guide policy development and public health messages and improve nutritional adequacy as Australia transitions to a diet that is both more environmentally sustainable and healthy.