What going vegan saves
Set how long, and see the impact. Every figure is from peer-reviewed research, not a vibe.
How we calculate this (and where the numbers stop)
The environmental figures come from Scarborough et al., Nature Food (2023), the largest study of its kind: 55,000 UK people linked to the impact of 38,000 farms. They compare a vegan diet with a high-meat diet (100 g or more of meat a day), standardised to 2,000 kcal a day. Savings against a lighter-meat diet are smaller.
Per year, going vegan avoids about 2.8 tonnes of CO₂e (study range 1.8 to 4.6 t), 175,000 litres of water (total green, blue and grey water), and 4,530 m² of land. The animals figure (~105/year, land plus directly-eaten fish and shellfish) is the softest: it is an estimate from per-capita slaughter data via Counting Animals, and it varies by country and method (land animals alone are closer to 30/year).
Sources: Scarborough et al., Nature Food (2023), Poore & Nemecek, Science (2018), via Our World in Data, Counting Animals (animals-spared method). We keep this honest on purpose, it is how we verify everything.
Curious where to start? Read Start Here or check if your favourites are vegan.
Source: VeganDigest · vegandigest.com/what-going-vegan-saves/