Frontiers in Science Lead Article
Published on 18 Dec 2025
Obesity and climate change: co-crises with common solutions
Frontiers in Science
doi 10.3389/fsci.2025.1613595
- 1,220 views
Lead article
Expert insights
ARTICLE EVENT
Discussion with the article authors
Join Prof Jeff Holly (University of Bristol, UK) and colleagues for a complimentary virtual symposium on next steps for transforming food systems for human and planetary health.
Date & time: 5 March 2026 at 11:00 CET
Frontiers in Science Editorial
Published on 18 Dec 2025
Food systems determine obesity and climate change
Dr Sydney Pryor and Prof William H. Dietz, George Washington University, USA—High-income countries must lead food-system reform efforts to counter the disproportionate climate and human health impacts of beef and ultra-processed food overconsumption.
FRONTIERS IN SCIENCE EDITORIAL
Published on 30 Jan 2026
What to do about the coincidence of runaway obesity and climate change?
Prof Tim Lang, City University London, UK—Decades of data linking food systems, obesity, and climate change have not adequately reshaped policy, necessitating a systemic recalibration of food supply, consumption, and societal norms (coming soon).
Frontiers in Science Viewpoint
Published on 18 Dec 2025
The health and economic consequences of policy inaction and vested interests: food and climate change
Prof Paolo Vineis, Imperial College London, UK—Systemic policy interventions that confront corporate influence could yield substantial co-benefits for human and planetary health, while reducing the economic costs of obesity and climate change.
FRONTIERS IN SCIENCE VIEWPOINT
Published on 30 Jan 2026
Co-crises, complex causes: why obesity and climate change demand more than dietary prescriptions
Dr Raedeh Basiri and Prof Lawrence J. Cheskin, George Mason University, USA—Obesity-climate strategies should address socioeconomic inequities driving unhealthy eating, limit overconsumption of animal foods while evaluating alternatives, and integrate mental-health considerations (coming soon).
Key points
Half the global population is projected to be living with excess weight and/or obesity within 10 years, placing an unsustainable burden on healthcare systems.
The food environments driving obesity via increased consumption of energy-dense and ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are also driving climate change.
Although bariatric surgery and incretinomimetic drugs offer important new therapeutic options, they cannot substitute for societal-level, systems-wide reform of obesogenic ecosystems.
Reforms necessary to tackle the obesity and climate co-crises include the following: cost transparency to address market distortions, taxes on energy-dense UPFs, facilitation of healthy food choices (including subsidies to producers and consumers), food labeling, living environments that enable healthy diets and activity, and education of the public and professionals.
Transitioning to non-obesogenic and sustainable food systems that are healthy for the planet would likely be very economically advantageous to societies.
For all readers
EXPLAINER
Published on 18 Dec 2025
How our food system fuels both obesity and climate change—and how to fix it
A summary of the lead article in a Q&A format, with a video.
Frontiers for Young Minds
Published on 18 Dec 2025
Obesity and Climate Change: Two Problems, Shared Solutions
A version of the lead article written for—and peer reviewed by—kids aged 8-15 years.
News
PRESS RELEASE
Published on 18 Dec 2025
Global food systems driving twin crises of obesity and global heating
A major review in Frontiers in Science highlights how tackling unsustainable food systems—reflected by our changing food environment—is urgent for both health and climate. (Photos: Prof Jeff Holly, University of Bristol, UK, Prof Paul Behrens, University of Oxford, UK, and Prof Katherine Samaras, St Vincent's Hospital Sydney, Australia).
PRESS RELEASE
Published on 18 Dec 2025
Global food systems driving twin crises of obesity and global heating
A major review in Frontiers in Science warns that unsustainable food systems pose an urgent threat to both human health and the climate.
PRESS RELEASE
Published on 18 Dec 2025
Global food systems driving twin crises of obesity and global heating
Changing the consumption-driven nature of our food systems would significantly benefit public health and the climate, say the authors of a major scientific review linking environmental harms with obesity.
NEWS STORY
Published on 18 Dec 2025
Global food systems may push warming beyond 2°C even if emissions ceased today: study
The world's current food systems could push global temperatures beyond the warming threshold of 2°C set in the Paris Agreement, even if fossil fuel emissions ended today, according to a study.