The _2 billion NHS windfall- Why meat reduction matters (Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation)

This report contains an executive summary, which is reproduced below.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In 2024 Britain faces key challenges in meeting our environmental targets and continually improving the health of the British people. At the same time, spiralling health costs and a tough economic climate mean that the government and the average family must do more with less.

We propose that modest reductions in how much meat British citizens eat can provide strong benefits in all of these areas. This report 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.

We review the latest literature in public health, climate science, economics, and behavioural science and model the potential benefits to Britain of several meat-reduction scenarios. 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.
• Reducing British meat consumption by 10% (e.g. eating 2 fewer packs of sausage per family per month) would offset the emissions of 16% of the cars on UK roads.
• 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.
• Implementing meat-free defaults in public catering – a low cost and unobjectionable intervention – would save the NHS £74M a year.