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Plant-based alternatives to beef and dairy usually reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and land use, but they are not automatically better on every measure. Water scarcity, freshwater eutrophication and acidification can change the ranking, especially when crops are grown in water-stressed regions or products use particular ingredients. The fairest comparison keeps the same functional unit, geography, ingredients and life-cycle boundary—and treats environmental impact separately from nutritional adequacy.
The short answer
Replacing high-impact beef or dairy with a well-chosen plant-based alternative will generally lower climate emissions and land demand in the comparisons available here. The difference is often clearest for beef, whose production has a large methane, feed, land-use and pasture footprint. Dairy alternatives also tend to perform better than dairy milk per serving in the Our World in Data comparison.
That direction is an average, not a guarantee for every product or impact category. A 2026 study of products and modelled diets in Switzerland found lower impacts for most of the alternatives it assessed, while identifying water-scarcity exceptions, high water requirements for almond drinks and elevated freshwater-eutrophication potential for some cheese alternatives containing substantial coconut oil. Those findings are specific to the products, formulations, data and Swiss modelling used in that study.
Environmental substitution is therefore a multi-criteria decision. Ask what is being replaced, what the denominator is, where ingredients were produced, which life-cycle stages are counted and whether the product still supplies the nutritional role of the original food.
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Why rankings change from one comparison to another
Functional unit
A footprint reported per kilogram of food cannot be read as a footprint per serving, calorie or 100 grams of protein. Beef can look especially different when measured by protein because the comparison accounts for the amount of protein delivered rather than the mass of the product. Always place the denominator beside the number.
Impact category
Greenhouse-gas emissions, land use, freshwater withdrawals, water scarcity, freshwater eutrophication and acidification describe different pressures. A product can be favourable for climate emissions yet less favourable for a local water-scarcity indicator. There is no scientifically defensible single score that settles every environmental question for every location.
Geography and production practice
Rain-fed and irrigated crops do not have the same water implications. Fertiliser rates, manure management, energy sources, processing, raw-material origin and farm yields also change results. A global average is useful for understanding broad patterns, but it is not a forecast for a particular farm or supermarket product.
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Life-cycle boundary
The global food-impact work summarized by Our World in Data includes land-use change, on-farm emissions, agricultural inputs, processing, transport, packaging and retail. It also includes farm-to-retail losses. Cooking and consumer losses after retail are excluded. The 2026 Swiss product comparison uses a cradle-to-production-gate boundary, so retail and later stages are not counted in the same way. Figures from those studies should not be combined as if they were measured on one basis.
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What the major evidence bases actually measure
| Evidence base | Coverage | Boundary or unit detail | How to use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poore and Nemecek (2018), summarized by Our World in Data | 38,700 commercially viable farms in 119 countries and 40 products | Life-cycle assessment covering land-use change, farms, inputs, processing, transport, packaging and retail; greenhouse gases are expressed as CO2-equivalents using a 100-year global-warming-potential basis | Best for understanding broad global-average differences among food categories, not for predicting a named product |
| FAO/WHO GIFT description of the same underlying global work | About 38,000 farms in 119 countries and 43 agricultural commodities | Indicators include kilograms of CO2-equivalents, litres of water and square metres of land; the boundary runs from agricultural inputs to retail and includes processing, packaging, transport and farm-to-retail losses | Use its definitions and indicator framework; do not silently merge its rounded commodity count with the 40-product description above |
| Our World in Data plant-milk comparison | Plant milks compared with dairy milk | Results reported per serving; non-soy plant-milk values were added after the original publication using the original methodology and raw-ingredient footprints | Supports the direction of the milk comparison, while requiring care about how later-added products were estimated |
| 2026 Communications Sustainability study | Products and modelled diets in Switzerland, using several life-cycle-inventory databases; much selected inventory data is European | Cradle to production gate; examines greenhouse gases, water scarcity, freshwater eutrophication and acidification as well as other product and diet outcomes | Useful for formulation and trade-off examples, but not a universal ranking for every country or brand |
Beef alternatives: why the climate and land advantage is often large
The beef benchmark
Our World in Data reports that producing 100 grams of beef protein emits an average of 25 kilograms of CO2-equivalents in Poore and Nemecek’s 2018 dataset. The reported range is 9 to 105 kilograms across the farms and systems represented. The range matters: the average describes a large, varied dataset, not the footprint of every cattle operation.
Cattle can require pasture and feed crops, and their digestion produces methane. Land-use change, fertiliser production, manure and farm energy add to the total. Those drivers explain why replacing some beef with beans, peas, soy-based foods or other plant proteins often cuts emissions and land demand. The size of the saving depends on what product replaces the beef and on the production system being displaced.
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Plant protein is not one uniform category
A dry legume, a minimally processed tofu-like food and a highly formulated meat analogue have different ingredient mixes and factory requirements. The environmental result can change with crop origin, energy use, processing and packaging. A product-level footprint should not automatically be presented as the footprint of an entire diet, because the amount eaten and the foods it replaces determine the substitution scenario.
What a lower footprint does—and does not—mean
Lower greenhouse-gas emissions do not prove that an alternative is lower in every impact category. Irrigation can raise water-scarcity pressure, while fertiliser losses can contribute to eutrophication. Nor does a lower footprint establish nutritional equivalence. Protein quantity, amino-acid profile, iron, vitamin B12, calcium, sodium and added fats depend on the formulation and the rest of the diet.
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Dairy alternatives: milk, cheese and the ingredients behind them
Plant milk versus dairy milk
The Our World in Data FAQ reports that all plant-based milks in its comparison have a lower environmental footprint than dairy when measured per serving. This supports a clear climate-and-land direction for the milk substitution, but the provenance of the values matters. Non-soy results were added after the original publication using the original method and raw-ingredient footprints; they should not be described as if every product had been directly measured as a finished beverage in the original study.
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Soy milk is included in that comparison, but the evidence here does not establish a preferred brand, current price, seller or marketplace listing. A shopper should still check the product’s ingredient origin and formulation if water or land use is a deciding factor.
Why milk results cannot simply be transferred to cheese
Cheese concentrates milk solids, so its production cannot be inferred from a glass of plant milk. Plant-based cheese formulations may use starches, proteins, oils and other ingredients in very different proportions. The 2026 Swiss analysis found that some cheese alternatives had elevated freshwater-eutrophication potential when they contained high amounts of coconut oil. That is a study-specific result, not a claim that every coconut-containing product has the same impact.
Formulation and processing matter
The Swiss study found variation within product groups linked to formulation, raw-material origin and processing. Two products sold under the same broad category can therefore have materially different footprints. A label that says “plant-based” is not enough information to rank them without knowing the ingredients, sourcing and assessment boundary.
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Water is the main reason “plant-based” is not an automatic environmental verdict
Water use versus water scarcity
FAO/WHO GIFT identifies freshwater withdrawals as its water-use measure and reports water in litres. Water scarcity asks a different question: how significant is that withdrawal where and when it occurs? A litre taken in a wet region does not impose the same pressure as a litre taken from a depleted basin. Never treat a water-use number as a universal scarcity score.
Almond drinks as a location-sensitive example
The 2026 Swiss product analysis reported high water requirements for almond drinks and identified water-scarcity exceptions among some alternatives. Almonds are therefore a useful warning against assuming that the lowest climate result is automatically the best choice for every water context. The finding belongs to the study’s product definitions, European inventory data and cradle-to-gate boundary; it is not a measurement of every almond-growing region or beverage.
How to interpret a water trade-off
- Check whether the figure is litres withdrawn, a scarcity-weighted result or another indicator.
- Look for the growing region and whether irrigation is involved.
- Compare products on the same serving or nutrient basis.
- Give local basin stress more weight than a global total when the decision is location-specific.
Other environmental categories that can reverse a simple ranking
| Category | What it captures | Trade-off to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Greenhouse gases | Climate-forcing emissions expressed as CO2-equivalents | Most assessed plant alternatives have lower average results than beef or dairy, but farm systems and formulations create a wide range |
| Land use | Area required for farming and associated land-use change | Plant alternatives often reduce land demand, but the result depends on yields, ingredients and the replaced food |
| Water use | Freshwater withdrawals or another stated water measure | A high-volume crop can look different from a low-volume crop depending on the metric and production region |
| Water scarcity | Potential pressure on water availability in a particular location and time | Some alternatives showed higher values in the 2026 Swiss analysis; almond drinks were a prominent example |
| Freshwater eutrophication | Nutrient pollution that can damage freshwater ecosystems | Some cheese alternatives with high coconut-oil content had elevated potential in the Swiss study |
| Acidification | Potential acidifying emissions affecting soils and waters | Results vary with fertiliser, energy, transport and processing; a climate-only comparison misses this category |
Product footprint versus a real dietary substitution
A product footprint asks, “What impacts are associated with making this item?” A dietary scenario asks, “What happens when a person replaces one amount of beef, milk or cheese with another food while meeting the same nutritional role?” The second question includes portion size, frequency, complementary foods and any changes in cooking or waste.
The 2026 Swiss study modelled diets as well as individual products and found that diet outcomes depended on which alternative was selected. Its nutrient results also varied. Those modelled outcomes should not be presented as observed effects in every country or as proof that environmental gains guarantee nutritional adequacy.
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- Name the substitution. State whether the product replaces beef, another meat, dairy milk, cheese or a snack. A product cannot be judged independently of what it displaces.
- Match the denominator. Use the same basis—per serving, kilogram, calorie or amount of protein—for both options. Do not compare a per-serving milk result with a per-kilogram cheese result.
- List the impact categories. At minimum, check greenhouse gases, land and water. Add water scarcity, eutrophication and acidification when the assessment reports them.
- Record geography. Note where major crops were grown, whether irrigation was used and whether the assessment is global, European or country-specific.
- Read the boundary. Confirm whether the result runs to the farm, factory gate, retail shelf or consumer, and whether transport, packaging, losses and cooking are included.
- Inspect the formulation. Compare the proportions of protein crops, oils, starches, nuts and other ingredients, because formulation can move results within a product category.
- Check the nutritional role separately. Compare protein and relevant micronutrients, then consider fortification, portion size and the rest of the diet.
- Report uncertainty honestly. Use “lower in this comparison” rather than “always better,” and attach every number to its source, date, unit and boundary.
Common mistakes and how to avoid them
- Turning an average into a guarantee: The 25-kilogram CO2-equivalent beef figure is an average with a 9-to-105-kilogram range per 100 grams of protein. It is not a farm-level prediction.
- Merging incompatible datasets: The global work and the Swiss product study use different boundaries, geographies and units. Do not calculate a combined ranking from their figures without harmonising those variables.
- Calling every plant alternative “low impact”: Climate and land advantages do not erase water-scarcity, eutrophication or acidification trade-offs.
- Confusing water withdrawal with scarcity: A litre total and a scarcity-weighted score answer different questions.
- Assuming all plant milks were measured identically: Later-added non-soy values in the Our World in Data comparison used the original methodology and raw-ingredient footprints.
- Inferring nutrition from environmental data: A lower footprint says nothing by itself about protein quality, fortification or micronutrient adequacy.
- Using a product result to claim a diet result: The food eaten, portion, frequency and replacement food determine the outcome of a dietary change.
What a practical, evidence-aligned choice looks like
If the immediate goal is to reduce climate emissions and land demand, replacing some beef or dairy with plant-based foods is supported by the broad direction of the available evidence. Prioritise comparisons that use the same nutritional basis and disclose their boundary. For water-sensitive decisions, investigate crop origin and irrigation rather than relying on a generic “plant-based” label. Treat almond drinks and coconut-oil-rich cheese alternatives as prompts to examine water-scarcity and eutrophication data, not as universal winners or losers.
Finally, keep the environmental and dietary questions connected but separate. A product can be environmentally preferable in a particular comparison while requiring fortification, a different portion or other foods to supply the nutrients provided by the original beef or dairy item. The most defensible conclusion is therefore conditional: choose the alternative that performs better on the impact categories that matter in its production region, on a like-for-like basis, and that fits the nutritional role being replaced.
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