How does going vegan help save the planet? Here are the facts

• News & Highlights

Environmentally-speaking, the world is not in a great place right now. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere – one of the main contributors to climate change – is continuing to rise past levels last seen millions of years ago. This, combined with other greenhouse gases, has triggered extreme weather events across the globe. Seven of the ten hottest years on record took place in the last decade.

Things are looking bad on land too. In August the International Panel on Climate Change released a report warning of the effect that agriculture and other human activity is having on soil, which is a major carbon sink alongside forests and the oceans. Deforestation, land degradation and agriculture are all having a devastating impact on land, the report argued.

So what can we do about it? Going vegan is often touted as the most impactful thing you can do to minimise your environmental impact – more than cutting down on flights or switching to a renewable energy supplier. Here’s how much swapping meat for veg really helps the planet.