New assessment positions food systems reform as central to human health, climate stability, and social justice

CIMMYT hosted the global launch of the 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission Report on Healthy, Sustainable, and Just Food Systems at its headquarters on December 10, bringing together leading scientists and strategic partners to confront one of the defining challenges of the decade: how to feed a growing world population without breaching planetary limits or deepening social inequities.

Described as the most comprehensive global scientific assessment to date on food systems, the 2025 report builds on the Commission’s landmark 2019 findings, integrating new datasets, advanced modeling, and global scenario analysis to assess the links between diet, agriculture, climate change, biodiversity, and social outcomes. The conclusion is unequivocal: transforming food systems is no longer optional—it is foundational to achieving global health, climate resilience, and environmental sustainability.

Food systems at the center of the planetary crisis

Presenting the report’s scientific framework, Dr. Fabrice DeClerck, Chief Science Officer at EAT and Principal Scientist at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT (CGIAR), emphasized that the current trajectory of global food systems is incompatible with both public health goals and climate targets.

Among the report’s most striking findings is the estimate that a global shift toward healthier diets could prevent up to 15 million premature deaths annually. At the same time, food systems are identified as the single largest driver of transgressions across five planetary boundaries—climate change, biodiversity loss, land use, freshwater depletion, and nutrient cycles. Even under a hypothetical full global transition away from fossil fuels, the report warns that food systems alone could still push global warming beyond the 1.5°C threshold enshrined in the Paris Agreement.

A system defined by inequality

The analysis also exposes profound global inequities embedded within food systems. According to the report, less than 1 per cent of the world’s population currently lives within a “safe and just space,” where basic food needs and human rights are met without exceeding planetary limits. Meanwhile, the wealthiest 30 per cent of the global population generate over 70 per cent of food-related environmental impacts, underscoring the disproportionate footprint of high-consumption diets.

On the production side, social outcomes remain equally stark: nearly one-third of food systems workers globally earn below a living wage, highlighting structural inequities that persist even as food systems expand and intensify.

From diagnosis to solutions

The launch event featured a distinguished presidium including Daniela Vega, Chief of Staff to the Director General at CIMMYT; Dr. Fabrice DeClerck; Hon. Sharon Burke, Chief Engagement Officer; Dr. Sieg Snapp, Sustainable Agrifood Systems Program Director at CIMMYT; and Dr. Santiago López Ridaura, Principal Scientist for Agricultural Systems and Climate Change Adaptation at CIMMYT.

Beyond diagnosis, the 2025 EAT-Lancet report lays out eight interlinked solution pathways, spanning shifts toward healthy diets, reductions in food loss and waste, adoption of sustainable and regenerative production practices, protection of intact ecosystems, securing decent work across food value chains, and ensuring the meaningful inclusion of marginalized communities in food systems governance.

Crucially, the Commission stresses that these transitions are scientifically feasible and economically viable, provided they are pursued through coordinated policy action, innovation, and investment.

CIMMYT’s role in a global transition

By hosting the global launch, CIMMYT reaffirmed its role as a science anchor for food systems transformation, integrating advances in crop science, climate adaptation, nutrition, and social equity. The event aligned closely with CIMMYT’s 2030 Strategy and the broader CGIAR agenda, positioning evidence-based research as a cornerstone for delivering healthier diets, climate resilience, and inclusive development at scale.

As the 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission Report makes clear, the future of food is inseparable from the future of the planet—and the window for action is rapidly narrowing.