India's sustainable eating habits could save the planet, says WWF report

The WWF's Living Planet Report praises India's food consumption practices as the most sustainable among G20 nations, highlighting their potential to mitigate climate change

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has released its Living Planet Report, highlighting India’s food consumption patterns as the most sustainable among the major economies (G20 countries). The report indicates that if all nations were to adopt India’s food consumption approach, it would lead to the least climate-damaging scenario. Meanwhile, Argentina, Australia, and the US are identified as having the least sustainable practices.

Climate impact on global consumption patterns

The report warns that if the existing food consumption patterns of the major economies were adopted globally by 2050, greenhouse gas emissions related to food production would exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius climate warming target by 263 per cent.

This scenario would necessitate one to seven Earths to sustain the increased demand. Notably, India’s millet initiative was specifically acknowledged for its potential positive impact.

India’s consumption model

According to the report, if other countries were to adopt India's current food consumption practices, the world would require less than one earth (0.84) by 2050 to support food production. This places India’s model marginally above the planetary climate boundary for food, which defines the maximum greenhouse gas emissions permissible to maintain warming within the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit.

Comparison with other countries

In contrast, adopting Argentina’s consumption patterns would necessitate an alarming 7.4 earths. This indicates Argentina's system ranks the worst in terms of sustainability, followed closely by Australia (6.8), the US (5.5), Brazil (5.2), France (5), Italy (4.6), Canada (4.5), and the UK (3.9). Among countries with better sustainability ratings, Indonesia (0.9) follows India (0.84) and is more favourable than China (1.7), Japan (1.8), and Saudi Arabia (2).

The report also praises India’s commitment to promoting climate-resilient millets, also known as nutri-cereals. The National Millet Campaign aims to enhance the consumption of this ancient grain, which is both healthful and resilient to climate change.

The report emphasises that adopting more sustainable diets could significantly reduce the land required for food production. In particular, it could free up grazing land for alternative uses, including nature restoration and carbon sequestration. Additionally, it stresses the importance of advancing healthy alternative protein sources, such as legumes, nutri-cereals, plant-based meat alternatives, and algae rich in nutritional value.

[With agency inputs]