Scottish Climate Survey: main findings

• around one in three respondents (29%) said they always or often prepared meat-free meals at home, while fewer (17%) reported they always or often chose meat-free options when eating out
• around one in seven (15%) said that they always or often replace dairy products with non-dairy alternatives such as oat milk. Young people, graduates and those from higher-income households were more likely than average to say they do this
• over half (53%) reported that they always or often intentionally buy seasonal fruit and vegetables, while 36% said that they intentionally buy locally produced food always or often. Those living in rural areas and the over 70s were more likely to say they did each of these
• respondents who said it was common for people they know to make meat-free meals at home, choose meat-free options when eating out or replace dairy products with non-dairy alternatives were also more likely to report that they make those food choices themselves

Food choices

More than six in ten respondents (63%) reported preparing meat-free meals at home at least sometimes, with 29% saying they did so always or often. However, fewer (46%) reported that they choose meat-free options when eating out at least sometimes – including 17% who reported doing so always or often (Figure 8.1).

Figure 8.1: Food choices

Q. Thinking about the food you typically eat, how often do you do the following, if at all?

Base: All respondents: Prepare (4,024), Choose (3,992), Replace (3,992), Locally (4,005), Seasonally (4,038)

Young people aged 16-34 were more likely than other respondents to say they always or often made meat-free meals at home (34%, compared to 28% of those aged 35 and over), as were those who knew at least a fair amount about climate change (36%, compared to 21% of those who knew a little or nothing at all). As discussed in Chapter 7, both groups were also more likely to say that eating less meat and dairy was one of the four most effective actions individuals living in Scotland could take to reduce their contribution to climate change.

Other groups more likely than average to report making meat-free meals at home always/often were graduates (42%), minority ethnic respondents (40%), those living in the least deprived areas of Scotland (38%), those on higher incomes (35%) and women (35%). When it comes to people’s food choices when eating out, these subgroup patterns were broadly similar.

Figure 8.2: Subgroup differences in food choice

Q. Thinking about the food you typically eat, how often do you do the following, if at all?

Prepare meat-free meals at home (% always/often)

Choose meat-free options when eating out (% always/often)

Replace dairy products with alternatives such as oat milk (% always/often)

Base: All respondents: Prepare (4,024), Choose (3,992), Replace (3,992)

Around one in seven of the Scottish public (15%) say that they always or often replace dairy products with alternatives such as oat milk. Those who do are more likely to be young (24%), graduates (24%), with higher household incomes (21%), have higher levels of knowledge about climate change (20%) and live in areas of lower deprivation (SIMD 3-5) (17-19%).

Around half (53%) of respondents reported that they always or often intentionally buy seasonal fruit and vegetables, while 36% said that they always or often intentionally buy food that has been produced locally. Those aged over 70 (68%), rural residents (62%) and women (58%) were all more likely than average to report intentionally buying seasonal fruit and vegetables always or often. Those living in rural areas (49%) and the over 70s (46%) were also more likely than average (36%) to say they intentionally buy locally produced food either always or often.

Prevalence of food choices among friends, family or colleagues

Respondents were also asked how common these food choices were among people they know. Just under two in five respondents (38%) said it was common for people in their social circle to prepare meat-free meals at home. Slightly fewer reported that it was common for people they know to replace dairy products with non-dairy alternatives (31%) or to choose meat-free options when eating out (28%).

Respondents who said it was common for people they know to choose meat-free options or use dairy alternatives were also more likely to report that they make these choices themselves, in comparison to those who said it was not common:

• half (50%) of those who said it was common for people they know to eat meat free meals at home also said they always or often did this themselves, compared to 18% who said this was not common among people they know
• a third (33%) of those who said it was common for people they know to choose meat free options when eating out said they always or often did this themselves, compared to 13% who said this was not common among people they know
• one in three (30%) of those who said it was common for people they know to replace dairy products with alternatives said they always or often did this themselves, compared to 12% who said this was not common among those they know

Young people aged 16-34, women, graduates, high-income households, those living in large urban areas and the least deprived areas, and respondents who knew at least a fair amount about climate change were all more likely than average to say it was common for people they knew to make any of the three food choices.