Plant-based meat is a simple solution to climate woes - if more people would eat it

abcnews.go.com:

Climate scientists have long said that eating more plants and fewer animals is among the simplest, cheapest and most readily available ways for people to reduce their impact on the environment

THORNTON, Colo. — Lars Obendorfer says he was “badly insulted” after he first began offering vegan sausage at his 25 German stands, dubbed “Best Worscht in Town.” He even found himself mediating between customers arguing on social media.

“There was downright hostility between the meat eaters and the vegans,” he said.

That was six years ago. Today, 15% of the 200,000 sausages each year are plant-based.

“It actually tastes like a normal sausage,” customer Yasemin Dural said.

Eating more plants and fewer animals is among the simplest, cheapest and most readily available ways for people to reduce their impact on the environment, climate scientists have long said. According to one University of Michigan study, if half of U.S. animal-based food was replaced with plant-based substitutes by 2030, the reduction in emissions for that year would be the equivalent of taking 47.5 million vehicles off the road.

An explosion of new types of plant-based “meat” — the burgers, nuggets and other cuts that closely resemble meat but are made from soybeans and other plants — is attracting customers all over the world. Between 2018 and 2022, global retail sales of plant-based meat and seafood more than doubled to $6 billion, according to Euromonitor, a market research firm.

Still, that's dwarfed by global retail sales of packaged animal meat and seafood, which grew 29% in the same period to $302 billion.

And sales have been uneven. While demand for plant-based meat is growing rapidly in some countries like Germany and Australia, sales have flattened