The study shows that adjusting diets on a global scale has the potential to save around 15 million lives every year. It also indicates that, through coordinated global action to transform our food systems, it is possible to reverse existing damage and once again operate within the planet’s safe boundaries. Such a shift could also lead to a drastic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the food sector—cutting them by more than half compared to maintaining current production models.
The report underscores that social justice is a fundamental pillar of health and social development. The current situation is alarming: less than 1% of the world’s population lives in what scientists describe as a “safe and just space”—a condition in which human rights and food needs are fully met without compromising the planet’s health.
Inequality is a defining feature of the global food system. The document reveals that nearly one-third (32%) of food sector workers do not earn a living wage, while the wealthiest 30% of the population are responsible for more than 70% of the environmental damage caused by food production and consumption. This scenario coexists with a striking contradiction: although the world produces enough calories to feed everyone, more than one billion people still face hunger.
Grounded in cutting-edge scientific evidence and advanced modeling, the report serves as a roadmap for the future, outlining how to feed a projected 9.6 billion people by 2050 in a nutritious, equitable, and sustainable way—without depleting the planet’s resources. It makes clear that transforming both the production chain and our eating habits can generate far-reaching benefits.
These changes can improve global health, ensure access to quality food (food and nutrition security), promote social and economic stability, and make the food sector fairer and more humane, with better working conditions for everyone involved. For the food system to be truly sustainable—for both people and the planet—the rule must be clear: resources, benefits, and costs must be distributed far more equitably. This means securing the social foundations that guarantee the right to food, decent work, and a healthy environment.
According to the commission, any genuine and effective transformation must consider both human needs and planetary limits—only then will it be possible to build a safe and just future for all.
Based on its in-depth analysis, the commission presents an action plan with eight practical solutions for a healthier, greener, and fairer future. These include:
- Valuing and encouraging traditional and diverse healthy diets;
- Making healthy foods more accessible and affordable, creating environments that encourage greater demand for them;
- Adopting sustainable production practices capable of capturing carbon from the atmosphere, restoring natural habitats, and improving both the quality and availability of water;
- Completely halting the expansion of agriculture into still-intact ecosystems;
- Combating food waste and loss at all stages, from farm to table;
- Ensuring decent working conditions for all professionals in the food chain;
- Giving real voice and decision-making power to food system workers, ensuring they are heard; and
- Actively recognizing and protecting the rights of the most vulnerable groups.
For each of these solutions, the report provides a true “menu” of practical actions, which include measures such as valuing traditional and healthy foods in national nutrition policies, promoting local seed systems, reusing food that would otherwise be discarded, and strengthening agroecological practices that help preserve ecosystems.
The document also issues a direct call for economic reform, proposing subsidy changes to make healthy and nutritious foods more affordable and accessible to all, as well as the creation of laws and enforcement mechanisms to ensure decent working conditions and genuine representation for food sector workers.
However, the report emphasizes that this transformation will only be truly just if it is built collectively. Achieving this requires forming alliances across all sectors, defining priority actions, developing national and regional plans, mobilizing financial resources, and, ultimately, implementing these strategies together – so that governments, businesses, and civil society can work in unison toward real and lasting progress.
*Written with information provided by Nupens
**Intern under the supervision of Moisés Dorado
English version: Nexus Traduções, edited by Denis Pacheco
