Recap PBL Academy Lecture 2026

A healthy diet, a healthy planet 

‘A transformation towards a sustainable and healthy food system is the most important lever in keeping the planet habitable’; with this statement, Professor Johan Rockström opened his PBL Academy Lecture. Professor Rockström, after an introduction by PBL Director Marko Hekkert, gave his lecture entitled ‘A healthy planet and a healthy diet: A transformation towards a safe climate future’. In 45 fast-paced minutes, he brought more than 650 visitors, online listeners, and colleagues into the world of Planetary Boundaries and the role of the food system in maintaining a liveable and healthy planet. He demonstrated how forests and soils (the biosphere) as well as oceans can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, but that the Earth’s resilience is being further undermined by, among other things, the way in which the food- and agricultural systems are set up. Fortunately, Professor Rockström ended his rather dispiriting story with a happy note of ‘it is possible’. The food system can be both more sustainable and healthier: a win-win situation for sustainability and well-being. It’s not only possible, we have to; only together with the energy transition does a global transition towards a healthy, sustainable, and just diet offer a potential road towards a maximum rise in temperature of 1.5 Celsius and maintaining biodiversity. 

The Dutch food system

Johan Rockström built on his work for the EAT-Lancet Commission (see The EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems). The reflections of the two professors from Wageningen linked this global analysis to the Dutch diet and the European food system. In her reaction, Marianne Geleijnse, Professor of Nutrition and Cardiovascular Disease and former member of the Health Council of the Netherlands, showed how the new ‘Wheel of Five’ (Schijf van Vijf) connects to the necessary healthy and sustainable diet. She dose she three significant challenges for the population of the Netherlands: less red meat, more legumes, and a better distribution of sustainable fish consumption. Additionally, Hannah van Zanten, Professor Earth Systems and Global Change, used a circular food system model to show that a sustainable and healthy food model is possible in Europe, even with less spatial use. She also demonstrated how people can think along using a ‘serious game’ about giving new shape to their food systems. 

Making sustainable choices

The connecting discussion with the audience (physical and online), led by Marko Hekkert, was joined by all speakers and Detlef van Vuuren, PBL researcher and Professor Integrated Assessment of Global Environmental Change at the University of Utrecht. The discussion concerned the challenges of change. For example, how should we deal with inevitably price increases or how do we arrive at a situation where the healthy, sustainable choice is also the easy choice, and how to deal with challenges and resistance. Those present concluded the Academy Lecture with a big round of applause and plenty of chats over drinks afterwards.