In conversation | Will Ozempic be good for the planet?

The hidden environmental stakes of the GLP-1 weight-loss revolution for the food and agriculture sector

People taking GLP-1s are not just eating less; they’re making different choices on what they eat. With data now good enough to really examine how this new class of drugs is re-shaping demand for different types of foods, this breakfast event will look at what the impact could be from a sustainability perspective, exploring different scenarios for future uptake rates across the world.

The way that people are changing their diets might be surprising. And there are nuances that matter behind the headline stats around calorie drops. The cuts seem to fall hardest in certain categories. And the choices that GLP-1 users are making are beginning to translate into broader shifts in demand, which might have a significant knock-on implication both on their plate and on the planet. Almost none of the current analysis, dominated by the commercial question of how to win in a GLP-1-shaped world, has asked what these shifts might mean for emissions, land use, water, and nature.

As the total number of calories people eat shrinks, companies will compete harder for the ones that remain - having to reformulate, going premium, chasing the protein boom. Each of these responses carries its own environmental knock-on, and the strategy that wins commercially may be the one that quietly also re-shapes a company's footprint per calorie. This means, we think, that this is a moment that sustainability leaders need to help shape, not simply watch.

This session, which will see the launch of new research on this topic, is built for sustainability leaders and the strategy teams they work alongside. We'll separate what we can say on GLP-1s with confidence from what's still genuinely uncertain. We'll work through scenarios for how uptake could unfold across different regions and markets and focus on what it means in practice, including the decisions worth taking now. You'll leave with a sharper view of whether Ozempic will, in fact, be good for the planet.