Teens and aging populations drive dietary carbon emissions surge, study finds

A new study in Nature Food finds that teenagers and young adults ages 11 to 29 have the highest per capita dietary carbon emissions globally, driven by higher consumption of meat, dairy, and processed foods. Researchers analyzed diet data across 149 countries and 22 age groups from 2000 to 2019. But seniors over 60 are now the fastest growing source of total dietary emissions, especially in high income countries like the U.S., Japan, and Western Europe. This is mostly due to population aging, not worse diets. Global dietary emissions rose by 2.1 gigatons of CO2 equivalent between 2000 and 2019, with seniors contributing 25.4% of that increase. The authors call for targeted climate policies by age group rather than one size fits all approaches. In high income countries, focus on low emission diets for aging populations. For younger people globally, improve school food environments. In low and middle income countries, balance rising nutrition needs with sustainable food system transitions.