Terrestrial Biodiversity Impacts of Replacing Beef with Novel Burger Patties across Ten European Union Countries

Burgers made with meat analogues are increasingly promoted for their lower environmental footprint, yet their impacts on terrestrial biodiversity, particularly due to ingredient sourcing, remain poorly understood. This study compares conventional beef patties with four alternatives — pea, soy, insect, and mycoprotein across the ten populous European Union countries, using 2015–2018 averages. By integrating an Environmentally Extended Multi-Regional Input–Output model with Life Cycle Impact Assessment, we evaluated terrestrial biodiversity impacts driven by land use (occupation) and climate change. Results of all patties show that land use dominates, accounting for over 96% of the total terrestrial biodiversity impacts. The biodiversity characteristics of sourcing regions strongly shape overall impacts, and the land use footprint cannot fully capture the spatial biodiversity patterns. Among the novel burger patties, soy patties generally perform the best. Replacing beef with the soy patties in food service could reduce biodiversity impacts by 71–97% per patty and correspond to a 3.6–4.9% reduction in national biodiversity loss associated with beef. Pea and mycoprotein patties exhibit the highest impacts, primarily due to the inclusion of coconut oil sourced from biodiversity-sensitive regions, notably the Philippines and Indonesia. In Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland, pea patties’ biodiversity impacts even exceed beef patties due to the structure of the current food system. These findings challenge the assumption that plant-based patties are always environmentally superior compared to beef and emphasize the need for shifting ingredient sourcing from biodiversity-sensitive regions toward lower-impact regions to reduce biodiversity impact.