IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2505.24457.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Climate impacts and monetary costs of healthy diets worldwide

Author

Listed:
  • Yan Bai
  • Elena M. Martinez
  • Mizuki Yamanaka
  • Marko Rissanen
  • Anna Herforth
  • William A. Masters

Abstract

About 2.8 billion people worldwide cannot afford the least expensive foods required for a healthy diet. Since 2020, the Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet (CoAHD) has been published for all countries by FAO and the World Bank and is widely used to guide social protection, agricultural, and public health and nutrition policies. Here, we measure how healthy diets could be obtained with the lowest possible greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, in ways that could further inform food choice and policy decisions toward sustainability goals. We find that the lowest possible GHG emissions for a healthy diet in 2021 would emit 0.67 kg CO2e (SD=0.10) and cost USD 6.95 (SD=1.86) per day, while each country's lowest-priced items would emit 1.65 kg CO2e (SD=0.56) and cost USD 3.68 (SD=0.75). Healthy diets with foods in proportions actually consumed in each country would emit 2.44 kg CO2e (SD=1.27) and cost USD 9.96 (SD=4.92). Differences in emissions are driven by item selection within animal-source foods, and starchy staples to a lesser extent, with only minor differences in other food groups. Results show how changes in agricultural policy and food choice can most cost-effectively support healthier and more sustainable diets worldwide.

Suggested Citation

  • Yan Bai & Elena M. Martinez & Mizuki Yamanaka & Marko Rissanen & Anna Herforth & William A. Masters, 2025. "Climate impacts and monetary costs of healthy diets worldwide," Papers 2505.24457, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2505.24457
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2505.24457
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniele Asioli & Jessica Aschemann-Witzel & Rodolfo M. Nayga, 2020. "Sustainability-Related Food Labels," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 12(1), pages 171-185, October.
    2. Mahrt, Kristi & Mather, David & Herforth, Anna & Headey, Derek, 2019. "Household Dietary Patterns and the Cost of a Nutritious Diet in Myanmar," Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Research Papers 303028, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security (FSP).
    3. Philip Wollburg & Stephane Hallegatte & Daniel Gerszon Mahler, 2023. "Ending extreme poverty has a negligible impact on global greenhouse gas emissions," Nature, Nature, vol. 623(7989), pages 982-986, November.
    4. Peipei Tian & Honglin Zhong & Xiangjie Chen & Kuishuang Feng & Laixiang Sun & Ning Zhang & Xuan Shao & Yu Liu & Klaus Hubacek, 2024. "Keeping the global consumption within the planetary boundaries," Nature, Nature, vol. 635(8039), pages 625-630, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bai, Yan & Costlow, Leah & Ebel, Alissa & Laves, Sarah & Ueda, Yurika & Volin, Natalie & Zamek, Maya & Herforth, Anna & Masters, William A., 2021. "Review: Retail consumer price data reveal gaps and opportunities to monitor food systems for nutrition," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    2. Kjersti Nes & Federico Antonioli & Pavel Ciaian, 2024. "Trends in sustainability claims and labels for newly introduced food products across selected European countries," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(2), pages 371-390, April.
    3. Giovanna Piracci & Emilia Lamonaca & Fabio Gaetano Santeramo & Fabio Boncinelli & Leonardo Casini, 2024. "On the willingness to pay for food sustainability labelling: A meta‐analysis," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 55(2), pages 329-345, March.
    4. Ding, Song & Ye, Juntao & Cai, Zhijian, 2024. "Multi-step carbon emissions forecasting using an interpretable framework of new data preprocessing techniques and improved grey multivariable convolution model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    5. Chiara Mazzocchi & Guido Sali, 2022. "Supporting mountain agriculture through “mountain product” label: a choice experiment approach," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 701-723, January.
    6. Coderre, François & Sirieix, Lucie & Valette-Florence, Pierre, 2022. "The facets of consumer-based food label equity: Measurement, structure and managerial relevance," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    7. Chiara Mazzocchi & Luigi Orsi & Guido Sali, 2021. "Consumers’ Attitudes for Sustainable Mountain Cheese," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-17, February.
    8. Kate R. Schneider & Luc Christiaensen & Patrick Webb & William A. Masters, 2023. "Assessing the affordability of nutrient‐adequate diets," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(2), pages 503-524, March.
    9. Dizon,Felipe Jr Fadullon & Wang,Zetianyu & Mulmi,Prajula, 2021. "The Cost of a Nutritious Diet in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9578, The World Bank.
    10. repec:ssa:lemwps:2025/04 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Yuru Guan & Yuli Shan & Ye Hang & Qingyun Nie & Yu Liu & Klaus Hubacek, 2025. "Unlocking global carbon reduction potential by embracing low-carbon lifestyles," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-16, December.
    12. Lin, Wen & Nayga, Rodolfo M., 2022. "Green identity labeling, environmental information, and pro-environmental food choices," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    13. Federica Cappelli, 2024. "Unequal contributions to CO2 emissions along the income distribution within and between countries," Working Papers 2024.06, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    14. Meng Yang & Feng Qiu & Juan Tu, 2022. "Premiums for Residing in Unfavorable Food Environments: Are People Rational?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-14, June.
    15. Tao Luo & Bo Shen & Zili Mei & Anders Hove & Keyi Ju, 2024. "Unlocking the potential of biogas systems for energy production and climate solutions in rural communities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    16. Raghunathan, Kalyani & Headey, Derek & Herforth, Anna, 2021. "Affordability of nutritious diets in rural India," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    17. Zetianyu Wang & Anna Josephson & Felipe Dizon, 2025. "Intra-household inequality in food expenditures and diet quality in the Philippines," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 17(1), pages 293-330, February.
    18. Dominika Jakubowska, 2021. "Market differentiation potential of traditional food quality labels: consumer and producer expectation," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 9(1), pages 239-250, September.
    19. Mameno, Kota & Kubo, Takahiro & Ujiie, Kiyokazu & Shoji, Yasushi, 2023. "Flagship species and certification types affect consumer preferences for wildlife-friendly rice labels," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(PB).
    20. Catalin M. Stancu & Alice Grønhøj & Liisa Lähteenmäki, 2020. "Meanings and Motives for Consumers’ Sustainable Actions in the Food and Clothing Domains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-25, December.
    21. Francisco J. Areal & Daniele Asioli, 2024. "Heterogeneous preferences and consumer willingness to pay for vitamin D fortification of eggs," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(3), pages 661-679, July.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2505.24457. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.