If you are a heavy meat eater, it is hard to know how to switch over to a plant-based diet. A plant-based diet is essential in a Net Zero world as it will halve the carbon emissions from our diet. There are also many benefits to adopting a plant-based diet: you will save up to £500 per person a year on your food bill, reduce your chances of developing illnesses and help with losing weight. Below are a few tips to start your journey towards a low emissions plant-based diet.

Stop eating beef and lamb

A way to quickly reduce you carbon footprint is to cut out the most carbon emitting meats from your diet. Beef is responsible for 10-12% of carbon emissions alone because it is the main cause of deforestation. Just cutting beef out of your diet alone will reduce your carbon footprint by 21%. Lamb also has a high carbon footprint because sheep produce methane whilst digesting, a harmful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Substituting these meats for chicken, pork, fish and vegetables will significantly reduce the carbon footprint of your diet.

Become a vegetarian once a week

An easy way to step into a more plant-based diet is to become a vegetarian for a day. A plant-based diet involves lots of diets, including flexitarian, vegetarian, vegan and pescatarian. If everyone was vegetarian for one day a week in the UK, this would be the equivalent of taking millions of cars off the road.

Find substitutes for dairy

Dairy products are high in carbon emissions because they contain cows’ milk. It is not necessary to cut out dairy completely, but an easy way to reduce the carbon footprint of your diet is to make dairy free substitutes for things that taste very similar to them, such as plant milk, butter, cream and mayonnaise.

Reduce the number of eggs in your diet

In a sustainable world, each person would have two eggs a week. Eggs are high in carbon emissions because the feed, fertiliser and transportation involved in production. Try to avoid eggy meals, such as omelettes and scrambled eggs.