Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Aug 1;20(8):e0328789.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0328789. eCollection 2025.

Impact assessment for just transition of protein production systems

Harpinder Sandhu  1 , Amie Sexton  1 , Priyambada Joshi  1 , Lee Recht  2 , Ayon Chakraborty  3 , Sukhbir Sandhu  4
Affiliations

Impact assessment for just transition of protein production systems

Harpinder Sandhu et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Understanding the impacts of protein production systems is necessary to plan the just transition of food systems. We analysed 285 studies to assess the impacts of 13 protein systems across 25 indicators under five key categories-natural capital, human capital, social capital, produced capital and governance. Nine protein systems (regenerative, organic, rangelands, free-range poultry, sustainable energy cultivated meat, conventional energy cultivated meat, mixed grains and livestock, pastoralists and plant-based) have overall positive impacts across all five categories. In comparison, four protein systems have negative impacts (small-scale beef, caged poultry, industrial pork, and confined feeding operations). We then used this in-depth assessment to develop five 'what if' future scenarios to track and assess the transition of protein production systems to 2050. Rapid reduction of industrial production may contribute to a just and inclusive transition of protein production systems. This assessment can help reduce risks associated with negative impacts and assist in governing and managing protein production systems towards long-term sustainability.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Co-author Dr Lee Recht was previously employed at Aleph Farms during the data analysis and writing of the article. Dr Recht no longer works at this organisation.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. A flow chart showing an overview of the systematic literature review.
Fig 2
Fig 2. a) Number of articles by the year of publication, (b) five main categories, (c) each indicator, and (d) the type of protein production system.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Ranking of all protein production systems based on their overall impacts, including natural, social, human, produced capital and governance. Value: -125 to +125.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Impacts (value: −125 to+125) of different protein production systems in five scenarios based on future market share projections of four leading protein production systems from 2025 to 2050.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Overall average impact of protein production systems from 2025 to 2050 based on five scenarios. Value: -125 to +125.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. TEEB. TEEB for agriculture & food: scientific and economic foundations. United Nations Environment Program: Geneva. 2018. http://teebweb.org/agrifood/scientific-and-economic-foundations-report/
    1. Sandhu H, Müller A, Sukhdev P, Merrigan K, Tenkuano A, Kumar P, et al. The future of agriculture and food: evaluating the holistic costs and benefits. Anthr Rev. 2019;6(3):270–8.
    1. Ambikapathi R, Schneider KR, Davis B, Herrero M, Winters P, Fanzo JC, et al. Global food systems transitions have enabled affordable diets but had less favourable outcomes for nutrition, environmental health, inclusion and equity. Nat Food. 2022;3(9):764–79. doi: 10.1038/s43016-022-00588-7 - DOI - PubMed
    1. FAO, UNICEF, WFP and WHO. The state of food security and nutrition in the world 2022. Repurposing food and agricultural policies to make healthy diets more affordable. 2022. doi: 10.4060/cc0639en - DOI
    1. IPES-Food. Breaking the cycle of unsustainable food systems, hunger, and debt. 2023. https://www.ipes-food.org/_img/upload/files/DebtFoodCrisis.pdf

LinkOut - more resources