On 2 October 2025, the EAT-Lancet Commission published its report on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems. It explores the importance of food system transformation in bringing the planetary boundaries back within a safe operating space while also delivering positive outcomes for human health.
Building on the initial findings from the Commission's 2019 report, the predominantly plant-based Planetary Health Diet remains a central element of its recommendations, with meat consumption limited to 75g a day, of which only 15g should be from red meat.
For investors and companies with exposure to the agri-food system, the financial consequences of exceeding the planetary boundaries are becoming more apparent, with droughts and rising temperatures contributing to increased feed and production costs as well as supply chain disruptions for major food companies such as Tyson Foods and JBS, for example.
Supporting farmers, a key stakeholder in the food system transformation, is important to mitigating these risks. The principles of a just transition, as defined by the International Trade Union Confederation, offer a framework to effectively support companies' supply chains.
This Insight piece explores the importance of increasing access to healthy foods and supporting farmers to transition to more sustainable production practices.
Doing so can help deliver the environmental and public health outcomes cited by the EAT Lancet Commission, as well as aligning with the outcomes and objectives of FAIRR’s investor engagement on protein diversification.
Reducing the costs of the food system
Currently, most global dietary patterns do not meet minimum standards for either sustainability or health, increasing public health costs and impacting productivity.
Health care costs to treat weight-related diseases across 52 OECD countries between 2020 – 2050 are estimated to make up 8.4% of health budgets, with the associated lower employment and declining productivity expected to reduce global average GDP by 3.3% per year.
Companies are already feeling the impact of these issues through increased absenteeism, presenteeism, and disability and workers’ compensation. In 2024, the Journal of Nutrition & Diabetes found that the annual cost of obesity-associated absenteeism created an annual average cost of US$1,755 per person for employers.
According to the Commission's new report, in 2022, only 2.8 billion people globally had access to an affordable healthy diet. Retailers and brand manufacturers play a crucial role in creating food environments that offer affordable and healthy food options.
The EAT Lancet’s Planetary Health Diet advocates for proteins to be sourced predominantly from plants such as nuts, legumes, and pulses. Increasing the affordability of these foods is key to driving their consumption.
While 60% of companies in FAIRR’s engagement are dedicating resources to increasing the accessibility of their alternative protein portfolios, through initiatives such as multi-buy offers, discounts, loyalty cards, ceiling prices, and collaboration with government nutritional programs, many of these efforts are short term.
Sainsbury’s provides one example of a company supporting consumers to more closely align with the Planetary Health Diet. The company has deployed its Aldi Price Match range across 100 plant-based products in 855 convenience stores. It is also supporting low-income families with £3 to spend on plant-based foods to encourage increased consumption, leading to a 6% increase in pulse consumption.
Food retailers and manufacturers adopting these initiatives more widely could play an important role in reducing the financial risks associated with diet-related public health impacts.
Farmer support is key to a just transition
To reduce the food systems' impact on the planetary boundaries, the EAT Lancet Commission calls for food production to shift to “ecological intensification practices”. This is defined as a set of on-farm production practices that increase efficiency, reduce losses, and reduce pollution by improving carbon sequestration and promoting nutrient cycling, pollination, and biological pest regulation.
It is positive to see that 80% of companies in FAIRR’s Protein Diversification Engagement are working with animal agriculture suppliers to encourage the adoption of more sustainable practices, such as manure and water management, regenerative agriculture and sustainable feed sourcing.
However, 69% of these initiatives remain in their pilot stages or do not cover companies’ largest markets.
To be effective, such projects need to scale up, with companies developing clear support roadmaps for their supply chains.
For example, Nestlé has developed a just transition strategy with public KPIs focused on sourcing 20% of ingredients from regenerative practices by 2025.
As of 2024, the company exceeded this target by sourcing 21.3% of its key ingredients from regenerative agriculture. To achieve this target, Nestlé invested US$1.52 billion (CHF 1.2 billion) to provide financial support, training, and incentives to help its animal agricultural suppliers transition to regenerative production.
Supporting animal protein suppliers to diversify their production to include more plant-based proteins is an opportunity that companies are not yet realising.
Solutions such as intercropping plant-based proteins with animal proteins can help farmers reduce emissions and increase their resilience by reducing reliance on a single commodity as a source of income while also building more stable supply chains.
Supporting companies, investors and farmers to build resilience
The 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission report reinforces the importance of shifting to a more plant-based diet to deliver positive outcomes for human health and bring the planetary boundaries back within a safe operating space.
Human health and planetary health are financially material, and aligning with the Commission’s dietary recommendations can help companies and investors reduce their exposure to risks from diet-related disease and intensive forms of animal agricultural production.
Transforming the food system in a way that is just and equitable requires buy-in from all stakeholders across the value chain, including farmers. Moreover, increasing access to an affordable healthy diet is essential.
Read FAIRR’s latest engagement progress report, Feeding Change: Building a Resilient Food System Through Protein Diversification, to understand how companies are progressing against these priorities.
FAIRR insights are written by FAIRR team members and occasionally co-authored with guest contributors. The authors write in their individual capacity and do not necessarily represent the FAIRR view.
