Meeting climate goals ‘would save millions of lives every year’ through shift to healthier and greener diets

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Taking tougher action to meet the world’s climate goals could save millions of lives each year, a new study finds. Dr Ian Hamilton, a scientist at University College London and executive director of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, the international research team behind the new study, told The Independent: “Well-designed climate policies across the energy, built environment, food and agriculture, and transport sectors could result in cleaner air, improved housing, increased physical activity, and healthier diets. “For places like the UK, which have made substantial progress around air pollution and decarbonising their electricity generation, we see that there is still significant room to go on vehicle pollution, increasing physical activity and reducing excessive consumption of red meat and saturated fats.” The nine countries studied in the analysis – published in a special issue of The Lancet Planetary Health journal – include Brazil, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa, the UK and the US. The results show that, in the UK, implementing climate policies in line with the Paris Agreement could each year save around 98,000 lives due to healthier and greener diets, 3,000 lives due to better air quality and 21,000 lives due to more active travel by 2040, when compared to a scenario where no additional efforts are made.