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	Processed food and beverage industry threatens health of 400 million children by UNICEF, EAT-Lancet report, agencies   Unethical practices of ultra-processed food and beverage industry leads to 163 million children suffering obesity, leaving another 230 million overweight.   Millions of children and adolescents are growing up in environments where sugary drinks, salty and sweet snacks and fast foods, including ultra-processed foods and beverages, are highly accessible and aggressively marketed.   These unhealthy food environments are driving nutrient- poor, unhealthy diets and a surge in overweight and obesity among children and adolescents, even in countries still grappling with child undernutrition.   The cost of inaction for children, adolescents, families, societies and economies is immense. Unhealthy diets increase the risk of overweight, obesity and other cardiometabolic conditions in children and adolescents, including high blood pressure, elevated blood glucose and abnormal blood lipid levels.   These health problems can persist into adult life, increasing the risk of non-communicable diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers.   Overweight and obesity are also associated with low self-esteem, anxiety and depression among children and adolescents. Parents bear the emotional toll of their children’s mental health challenges and the financial strain of higher medical expenses and lost income to care for them. Economies throughout the world are already struggling with escalating health care costs and reduced workforce productivity because of rising overweight and obesity.   The ultra-processed food and beverage industry holds disproportionate influence over children’s food environments. It shapes what foods and beverages are produced and how they are marketed, especially in settings where government regulation is weak or absent.   In pursuit of profit, the industry leverages vast financial resources and deep political influence to resist policies aimed at creating healthier, more equitable food environments.   This imbalance of power makes it difficult for governments, communities and families to protect children’s right to food and nutrition.   According to the latest available data, 1 in 5 children and adolescents aged 5-19 globally – or 391 million – are overweight, with a large proportion of them now classified as living with obesity. Children are considered overweight when they are significantly heavier than what is healthy for their age, sex and height.   The report Feeding Profits warns that ultra-processed and fast foods – high in sugar, refined starch, salt, unhealthy fats and additives – are shaping children’s diets through unhealthy food environments, rather than personal choice. These products dominate shops and schools, while digital marketing gives the food and beverage industry powerful access to young audiences.   For example, in a global poll of 64,000 young people aged 13-24 from over 170 countries conducted through UNICEF’s U-Report platform last year, 75 per cent of respondents recalled seeing advertisements for sugary drinks, snacks, or fast foods in the previous week, and 60 per cent said the advertisements increased their desire to eat the foods. Even in conflict-affected countries, 68 per cent of young people said they were exposed to these advertisements.   Without interventions to prevent childhood overweight and obesity, countries could face lifetime health and economic impacts exceeding, for example, US$210 billion in Peru, due to obesity-related health issues. By 2035, the global economic impact of overweight and obesity is expected to surpass US$4 trillion annually.   To transform food environments and ensure children have access to nutritious diets, UNICEF is calling on governments, civil society, and partners to urgently:   Implement comprehensive mandatory policies to improve children’s food environments, including food labelling, food marketing restrictions, and food taxes and subsidies. Implement social and behaviour change initiatives that empower families and communities to demand healthier food environments.   Ban the provision or sale of ultra-processed and junk foods in schools and prohibit food marketing and sponsorship in schools. Establish strong safeguards to protect public policy processes from interference by the ultra-processed food industry.   Strengthen social protection programmes to address income poverty and improve financial access to nutritious diets for vulnerable families.   “In many countries we are seeing the double burden of malnutrition – the existence of stunting and obesity. This requires targeted interventions,” said Russell. “Nutritious and affordable food must be available to every child to support their growth and development. We urgently need policies that support parents and caretakers to access nutritious and healthy foods for their children.”   http://www.unicef.org/reports/feeding-profit http://ureport.in/story/2254/ http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01906-3/fulltext http://www.fian.org/en/food-industry-must-be-held-accountable-for-driving-rising-obesity-and-ill-health/   Oct. 2025   EAT-Lancet report: food systems breach planetary boundaries, transformation can deliver health and equity.   Food production is the primary driver for breaching five of the planetary boundaries and accounts for around 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, while billions still lack access to healthy diets. This is the result of a new EAT-Lancet Commission report, the most comprehensive scientific analysis of global food systems to date, with contributions by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). The report shows that shifting to the Planetary Health Diet could prevent up to 15 million premature deaths per year and cut food-related emissions by more than half.   “The report sets out the clearest guidance yet for feeding a growing population without breaching the safe operating space on Earth set by the planetary boundaries,” states lead author Johan Rockstrom, Co-Chair of the EAT-Lancet Commission and PIK Director.   “It shows that what we put on our plates can save millions of lives, cut billions of tonnes of emissions, halt the loss of biodiversity, and create a fairer food system. We now have robust global guardrails for food systems, and a reference point that policymakers, businesses, and citizens can act on together. The evidence is undeniable: transforming food systems is not only possible, it’s essential to securing a safe, just, and sustainable future for all.”   Key findings:   Food systems are the primary driver to the transgression of five planetary boundaries and cause about 30 percent of global emissions. Shifting to the Planetary Health Diet could save up to 15 million lives each year and is linked to a 28% lower risk of premature death and reduced chronic disease.   Less than 1 percent of people currently live in countries where food needs are met without breaching planetary boundaries. The wealthiest 30 percent of people drive over 70 percent of food-related impacts, while billions lack healthy diets and many workers earn below a living wage.   Food systems impose 15 trillion USD in hidden costs annually. Transforming food systems could yield returns of 5 trillion USD annually, against required investments of 200–500 billion USD.   Building on its 2019 report, the new Commission – comprising leading international experts in nutrition, climate, economics, health, social sciences and agriculture from more than 35 countries across six continents – shows that just and sustainable food systems are essential for improving health, tackling inequality, and keeping humanity within planetary boundaries. The analysis also makes clear: even if fossil fuels are phased out, food systems alone could still push global warming beyond 1.5°C.   The report is based on analyses by thirteen independent modelling groups who assessed how transforming food systems could reduce pressure on key planetary boundaries while improving human health. The study also finds that today’s diets generally lack fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, and whole grains, while containing excessive amounts of meat, dairy, fats, sugar, and highly processed foods.   The EAT Lancet Commission stresses that transformation requires bundled policy measures – such as subsidies for fruits and vegetables combined with taxes on unhealthy foods – alongside stronger social protections to ensure a just transition.   http://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/eat-lancet-report http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01201-2/abstract Visit the related web page
	Accelerate a just transition globally, invest in Renewable Energy by United Nations News, agencies   July 2025   UN Secretary‑General António Guterres declared the world has “passed the point of no return” on the shift to renewables and implored governments to file sweeping new climate plans before November’s COP30 climate summit in Brazil, saying the fossil fuel era is nearing its end.   In a special address at UN Headquarters in New York, Mr. Guterres cited surging clean energy investment and plunging solar and wind costs that now outcompete fossil fuels.   “The energy transition is unstoppable, but the transition is not yet fast enough or fair enough,” he said. “Just follow the money,” Mr. Guterres said, noting that $2 trillion flowed into clean energy last year, $800 billion more than fossil fuels and up almost 70 per cent in a decade.   He noted new data from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) showing solar, once four times costlier, is now 41 per cent cheaper than fossil fuels.   Similarly, offshore wind is 53 per cent cheaper, with more than 90 per cent of new renewables worldwide beating the cheapest new fossil alternative.   “This is not just a shift in power. It is a shift in possibility,” he said.   Renewables nearly match fossil fuels in global installed power capacity, and “almost all the new power capacity built” last year came from renewables, he said, noting that every continent added more clean power than fossil fuels.   Mr. Guterres underscored that a clean energy future “is no longer a promise, it is a fact”. No government, no industry and no special interest can stop it.   “Of course, the fossil fuel lobby will try, and we know the lengths to which they will go. But they will fail because we have passed the point of no return.”   He urged countries to lock ambition into the next round of national climate plans, or NDCs, due within months. Mr. Guterres called on the G20 countries, which are responsible for 80 per cent of emissions, to submit new plans aligned with the 1.5°C limit and present them at a high‑level event in September.   Targets, he added, must “double energy efficiency and triple renewables capacity by 2030” while accelerating “the transition away from fossil fuels”.   The Secretary-General also highlighted the geopolitical risks of fossil fuel dependence. “The greatest threat to energy security today is fossil fuels,” he said, citing price shocks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.   “There are no price spikes for sunlight, no embargoes on wind. Renewables mean real energy security, real energy sovereignty and real freedom from fossil-fuel volatility.”   Mr. Guterres mapped six “opportunity areas” to speed the transition: ambitious NDCs, modern grids and storage, meeting soaring demand sustainably, a just transition for workers and communities, trade reforms to broaden clean‑tech supply chains, and mobilising finance to emerging markets.   Financing, however, is the choke point. Africa, home to 60 per cent of the world’s best solar resources, received just 2 per cent of global clean energy investment last year, he said.   Only one in five clean energy dollars over the past decade went to emerging and developing economies outside China. Flows must rise more than five-fold by 2030 to keep the 1.5-degree limit alive and deliver universal access.   Mr. Guterres urged reform of global finance, stronger multilateral development banks and debt relief, including debt‑for‑climate swaps.   “The fossil fuel age is flailing and failing. We are in the dawn of a new energy era,” he said in closing. “That world is within reach, but it won’t happen on its own. Not fast enough. Not fair enough. It is up to us. This is our moment of opportunity.”   http://news.un.org/en/story/2025/07/1165460 http://www.un.org/en/climatechange/moment-opportunity-2025 http://www.irena.org/Publications/2025/Jun/Renewable-Power-Generation-Costs-in-2024 http://billmckibben.substack.com/p/something-extraordinary-just-happened http://www.carbonbrief.org/un-five-reasons-why-switching-to-renewables-is-smart-economics http://fossilfueltreaty.org/news http://climateandhealthalliance.org/press-releases/cross-cutting-report-reveals-devastating-global-health-impacts-of-fossil-fuels-thru-production-life-cycle-across-human-lifespan http://www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input/2025/call-inputs-fossil-fuel-based-economy-and-human-rights http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/un-expert-calls-rights-based-energy-and-water-systems http://www.solargeoeng.org/african-ministers-call-for-a-non-use-agreement-on-solar-geoengineering   http://clubmadrid.org/taxing-polluter-profits-a-call-for-fair-climate-finance/ http://views-voices.oxfam.org.uk/2025/06/who-should-pay-for-climate-damage-polluters-tax http://taxjustice.net/reports/reclaiming-tax-sovereignty-to-transform-global-climate-finance/ http://climatenetwork.org/2025/06/25/tax-justice-the-missing-element-on-the-road-to-belem/ http://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/international-cooperation-on-fossil-fuel-levies-could-raise-billions-for-climate-finance http://tinyurl.com/mtnrb4s8 http://tinyurl.com/4knuumjp http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/75582/global-survey-finds-8-out-of-10-people-support-taxing-oil-and-gas-corporations-to-pay-for-climate-damages/   * Global banks have financed $7.9 trillion in fossil fuels since 2016, when the Paris Agreement was signed:   http://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2025/06/new-report-global-bank-financing-fossil-fuels-totals-869b-2024-dramatic http://www.sierraclub.org/articles/2025/06/banking-climate-chaos-global-banks-backslide-climate-commitments-amid-surge-fossil http://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-china-and-india-account-for-87-of-new-coal-power-capacity-so-far-in-2025/ http://insideclimatenews.org/news/23092025/inside-climate-talks-china-global-development/ http://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/climate-backtracker Visit the related web page
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