London, 27th January 2024
Today (Saturday 27th January) Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation (CAWF) has published a landmark new report on the benefits of meat reduction, titled ‘The £2 billion NHS windfall: Why meat reduction matters’.
The report found that even modest reductions in meat consumption replicated on a wide scale could offer benefits to individual health, HM Treasury, and the UK’s ability to reach climate goals.
Brand new findings include:
- NHS savings: If the British population ate meat-free lunches on weekdays, improved health could save the NHS as much as £2.2B annually. In addition, implementing meat-free defaults in public catering could save the NHS £74M a year.
- Personal health: If the UK population swapped meat for their weekday lunches, over 11,000 cases of Type 2 Diabetes could be prevented a year, and 366k fewer people could be living with cardiovascular disease.
- Environmental benefits: Meat production is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, but even modest meat reduction could help the UK meet its climate goals. Reducing British meat consumption by 10% (e.g. eating 2 fewer packs of sausage per family per month) could offset the emissions of 16% of the cars on UK roads.
- Household savings: Far from plant-forward diets being out of reach of everyday people, the average British household could replace 20% of their meat consumption while saving over £130 annually.
Key recommendations include implementing plant-based defaults in public catering and educating the public around the benefits of modest reductions in meat consumption. Doing so could generate a triple dividend: benefiting health, wealth, and environment.
Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation also emphasises the importance of individual choice in affecting dietary change. The report states that rather than dictate what individuals should eat, it aims to “educate both policymakers and the public alike on the personal and societal benefits to eating even a fraction less meat. In this way we hope individuals can be free to make informed choices about their diets.”
Today’s research was published with an exclusive in The Express which can be read here. It was commissioned by Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation with economic research carried out by Bryant Research.
Lorraine Platt, Co-Founder of Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, commented: “Our report published today offers an innovative and exciting approach which has the potential to help alleviate some of the most pressing challenges our nation faces.
“We estimate cost savings to the NHS from reductions in deaths from key lifestyle diseases worsened by high meat diets, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and cancer. Our major findings include: If the British population ate meat-free lunches on weekdays, improved health could save the NHS as much as £2.2B annually.
“We hope today’s report will serve as a catalyst for Government to explore how meat reduction can empower individuals to take charge of their health, enable the Treasury to save healthcare costs, and the nation to make significant strides toward meeting its climate goals.”
Lord Goldsmith, Patron of Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, commented: “This powerful report by CAWF confirms what scientists and nutritionists have known for years; that even modest shifts in our meat consumption can yield significant benefits for our economic, environmental and personal health. This is a sensible and proportionate proposal that simply involves spending public money in a way that delivers a number of public goods. It is hard to imagine any serious arguments against it and I hope government takes it seriously.”
Henry Smith MP, Patron of Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, commented: “Rather than tell the public what they can and can’t eat, reports like this from Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation are critical in empowering the public to make informed decisions about their diets and understand the impact those decisions can have on our planet and personal health.”
Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns commented: “The health, wealth, and environmental benefits from reducing meat consumption are clear, but as Conservatives we believe genuine shifts in the nation’s diet should be achieved without resorting to heavy-handed Government intervention. Individuals must be equipped with information like this published today, in order to make their own informed decisions.”
About Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation (CAWF)
The Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation was established in 2016 to raise awareness on the lives of billions of animals reared on intensive farms around the world and how this impact upon animal welfare, the environment and people’s health. We want to highlight the action people can take to help advance farm animal welfare.
Animal welfare is an increasing concern amongst the public, who frequently look to Government to take the lead in both maintaining and improving standards.
The Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation believes it is highly important that the welfare of farm animals is placed at the forefront of the Governments plan for food and farming along with its focus on productivity, competitiveness, and technology.
Media contact: Sophia Stileman (sophia.stileman@conservativeanimalwelfarefoundation.org)
