EATING insects instead of beef could help tackle climate change by reducing harmful emissions linked to livestock production, according to researchers.

The team from Scotland’s Rural College and Edinburgh University say that replacing half of the meat eaten worldwide with crickets and mealworms would cut farmland use by a third, substantially reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.

They insist that while consumers are reluctant to go down the bug route, eating a small amount could reap the benefits and insects could be introduced as ingredients in pre-packed foods.

Dr Peter Alexander, of Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences and Scotland’s Rural College, said: “A mix of small changes in consumer behaviour, such as replacing beef with chicken, reducing food waste and potentially introducing insects more commonly into diets, would help achieve land savings and a more sustainable food system.”

Professor Dominic Moran, of York University and Scotland’s Rural College, said: “The environmental challenges facing the global agricultural industry are increasing and this paper has studied some of the alternative foods that we can introduce into our diets to alleviate some of this pressure.”

Using data collected primarily by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, scientists compared the environmental impacts of conventional meat production with those of alternative sources of food for the first time.

Researchers considered a scenario in which half of the current mix of animal products is replaced by insects, lab-grown meat or imitation meat. They found that insects and imitation meat – such as soybean-based foods like tofu – are the most sustainable as they require the least land and energy to produce. Beef is by far the least sustainable, the team says.

Compared to previous studies, lab-grown meat was found to be no more sustainable than chicken or eggs, requiring an equivalent area of land but using more energy in production.