What would happen if everyone went vegan?
ENVIRONMENT
Short answer
~3 billion hectares of land would rewild, food emissions would drop 50-75%, wild fish stocks would recover, and 80+ billion animals a year would no longer be bred to be killed.
ENVIRONMENT
The detail
Poore & Nemecek modelled it: freeing an area the size of the US, China and EU combined. That land could rewild, sequester carbon or grow food for humans directly.
The transition would be gradual — nobody proposes closing farms overnight. Land use, employment and rural economies adjust as demand shifts.
Rewilding the land currently used for livestock would allow for the return of apex predators and a significant boost in biodiversity. A 2018 study published in Nature suggested that the global food system could stay within planetary boundaries if the world shifted toward a plant-based diet. This transition would not only save billions of individual lives but also provide a viable pathway for feeding a growing global population of 10 billion people.
RELATED
More questions like this
- How much does going vegan help the climate?
A vegan diet cuts food-related emissions by ~50-75%, land use by ~75%, and freshwater use by ~50% compared to an average omnivore diet.
- Why should I go vegan?
For the animals, your health, and the planet — three independently strong reasons that reinforce each other.
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