Mitigating diet-induced soil GHG emissions through the adoption of management practices across Europe

Shifting towards healthier diets is critical for ensuring more sustainable and resilient food systems while mitigating climate change. Emerging evidence indicates that such transitions can unintentionally increase soil GHG emissions due to changes in manure inputs and land use. In this study, we aim to assess the effectiveness of various mitigation management practices, including lower tillage intensity, cover crops, and residue retention, to mitigate soil GHG emissions induced by the full adoption of the EAT-Lancet reference diet in the EU and the UK. We combined the socio-economic model MAGNET outputs into the process-based biogeochemical model DayCent to simulate mitigation outcomes under various management scenarios. Applying mitigation management to conventionally managed cropland significantly improved soil GHG balance, especially in low-SOC regions. Reduced tillage and residue retention consistently enhanced SOC and reduced nitrate leaching, while cover crops alone did not significantly improve GHG outcomes due to trade-offs with N2O emissions. A combination of management practices effectively offsets diet-induced emissions at the EU level. However, in livestock-intensive countries such as Ireland and the Netherlands, full mitigation of the diet emissions was not achievable due to high baseline emissions and limited cropland availability. Our findings underscore the importance of integrating dietary transitions with region-specific soil management to align climate mitigation and food system goals.