The socio-demographic characteristics of food-related environmental impacts

Current diets are major drivers of environmental resource use and pollution. Whilst most food and diet-related policies are at national and regional levels, diets differ substantially within countries. Identifying population groups with outsized impacts within countries could allow for more targeted policy measures and increase the effectiveness of mitigation approaches. We quantified how food-related environmental impacts differ across population groups within countries, regions, and globally by combining global data on food availability with estimates of how food intake differs by sociodemographic group within countries, and by pairing those with region and food-specific environmental footprints. Impacts were greatest in men (+ 12% above the global average), young adults (+ 17%), those with high levels of education (+ 40%), urban residents (+ 10%), and those in high-income countries (+ 22%). Controlling for differences in calorie demand reduced most of the differences across the sexes (to a 0% spread globally), age groups (11%), and also urban/rural residence (12%), but differences across levels of education (48%) and income region (21%) remained high. Our findings suggest that it is especially structural characteristics (education/income and region) compared to biological ones (age, sex) that might warrant differentiated approaches for mitigating food-related environmental impacts.