EAT Foundation to wind down in 2026 after landmark food systems push, says Johan Rockström

The EAT Foundation, the Norwegian nonprofit that helped drive the global conversation on sustainable diets and food system reform, will begin an orderly wind-down in 2026, according to Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Co-Chair of the EAT-Lancet Commission.

• The EAT Foundation has announced it will begin an orderly wind-down in 2026 after its board concluded the current structure and funding model were not resilient enough to meet today’s ambitions.

• The organization recently supported publication of the 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission report, which found food systems drive 30% of global emissions and contribute to five planetary boundary transgressions.

• Discussions are under way with partners and donors to enable selected flagship initiatives, including the EAT-Lancet Commission, to continue under new arrangements.

“After more than a decade of successfully raising the healthy and sustainable food system transformation at the global policy, business and wider awareness stage, EAT Foundation is now beginning an orderly winding down during 2026,” Rockström wrote in a public statement.

He said the decision followed “a long and thorough consideration,” with the Board of Trustees of the Norwegian EAT Foundation concluding that “EAT’s current structure and funding model is not sufficiently resilient to support the level of ambition today’s world requires.”

Founded in 2013, EAT sought to bridge science, business and policy around one central question: how to feed a growing global population without undermining planetary stability or human health. Through high-level convenings such as the Stockholm Food Forum and through scientific collaborations, the organization became a reference point in debates about diet, climate and equity.

Rockström credited the foundation with opening “the first platform for Science, Business and Policy to engage on Health and Sustainability on Food,” adding that EAT had made “extraordinary contributions to one of the most pressing global challenges - how to transition away from human and planet damaging food systems.”

At the core of EAT’s influence was the EAT-Lancet Commission, first published in 2019. That report introduced the Planetary Health Diet, a quantified dietary framework designed to improve public health while staying within environmental limits. It also defined food system boundaries grounded in planetary boundaries science.

In October 2025, the Commission released its second report, described at the time as the most comprehensive global scientific evaluation of food systems to date. Published as a peer-reviewed article in The Lancet, the updated analysis quantified pathways to align diets, environmental sustainability and social justice.

According to the 2025 report, shifting global diets could prevent approximately 15 million premature deaths per year. It concluded that food systems are the largest contributor to the transgression of five planetary boundaries and currently account for roughly 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Transforming food systems, the Commission found, could cut those emissions by more than half compared with a business-as-usual scenario.

The report also highlighted stark inequities. Fewer than 1% of the world’s population currently lives in what the Commission termed a “safe and just space,” where food needs and rights are met within planetary boundaries. It found that almost a third of food systems workers earn below a living wage, while the wealthiest 30% of people drive more than 70% of food-related environmental impacts. More than one billion people remain undernourished despite global calorie sufficiency.

Rockström described the new publication as “a sate of the art quantification of the Planetary Health Diet, running the first model inter-comparison on what it will take to return the global food system to within safe Food system boundaries, and addressing justice, and levers for transformation.”

He added that the report is “a key scientific guide for all investments and policy efforts to align diets, health and sustainability with safety and justice,” and said it “would never have been possible to accomplish without the leadership and drive by the EAT Foundation and its excellent staff!”

The 2025 Commission drew on contributions from experts across more than 35 countries and six continents, spanning nutrition, climate science, economics, agriculture, health and social sciences. Thirteen independent modeling groups assessed the impacts of food system transformation across five planetary boundaries: climate, land, freshwater, nutrient pollution and novel entities such as pesticides, antimicrobials and microplastics.

The analysis warned that even a complete global transition away from fossil fuels would not guarantee keeping warming below 1.5°C if food systems remain unchanged. It reinforced findings that diets worldwide consistently lack sufficient fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes and whole grains, while in many regions containing excess meat, dairy, animal fats, sugar and highly processed foods.

Despite this momentum, Rockström acknowledged that the wind-down comes at a time of peak activity for the foundation. “This dark moment for EAT comes at a time when EAT has accomplished more than ever during its existence,” he wrote, citing the successful Stockholm Food Forum in October 2025, newly curated communities of action on health and sustainable food, and the launch of the second Commission report.

“It proves how crucial EAT is as an injector of facts, inspiration, and action into the food system,” he added. “It is a sad end, but very likely also a new beginning.”

While the foundation itself will close, efforts are under way to preserve some of its flagship initiatives. Rockström said that “new pathways are being explored with aligned partners and donors to enable selected flagship initiatives to continue (like the EAT-Lancet Commission) and, where possible, scale in new constellations.” He noted that “no concrete arrangements have been agreed yet, but discussions are ongoing.”

The potential continuation of the EAT-Lancet Commission would carry weight for governments, businesses and investors that have used its framework as a reference point for aligning food systems with climate, biodiversity and health targets. The Commission’s modeling has increasingly informed national dietary guidelines, sustainability strategies and financial risk assessments.

The winding down of EAT Foundation in 2026 closes a chapter in the institutional architecture of food systems reform. Over more than a decade, the organization helped shift food from a niche sustainability issue to a central pillar of climate and health strategy. Whether its work re-emerges under new structures remains unresolved, but its scientific legacy, particularly through the Planetary Health Diet and the concept of food system boundaries, is likely to continue shaping policy and investment decisions in the years ahead.