Vegan and plant milks

Why choose plant milk?

The environmental benefits of plant milks are the main marketing angle these days, but choosing plant milk over dairy is also a way to help reduce animal exploitation. We cover this more in detail in our article on the typical life of dairy cow.

When comparing the environmental impact of various milks, the most important thing to remember is that the average plant milk fares much better than dairy milk.

While the carbon impact of dairy milk results in about 2.2 kg of CO2 per litre, the impact of plant milk is only about 0.6-0.9 kg per litre. The production of dairy milk also requires far more land, using about 2.2 m2 per litre produced, while plant milks use between 0.3 m2 and 0.5 m2. Our article comparing the climate impact of plant and dairy milk has more information.

Between the plant milks there is little difference in terms of climate impact, though there are some factors to consider, such as: where the ingredients come from and how they are grown. We cover these issues later in this guide.

What is dairy-free plant milk made from?

Vegan plant milk can be made from a variety of plants including soya beans, peas, oats, rice, and various nuts and seeds. It can also be made from potatoes. We discuss the main ingredients used by plant based milk brands below.

Soya beans

The classic plant milk ingredient is soya, but soya is associated with deforestation in South America. However, it is worth remembering that most soya grown in the world is used to feed livestock, not people. For more on the impacts of soya see our online feature ‘Is soya sustainable’.

To minimise the risk that the soya you are drinking is associated with deforestation, it is good to look for a company that sources it from outside South America. See the table below for what we found online on all the soya milk brands, including supermarkets.

Supermarket statements on soya mostly relate to what is used in feed for their animal products, and they may specify separately – look on the packaging – the origin of soya used in soya milk. We listed M&S separately as it had clearly stated online that the soya in its soya milk was from the EU. In 2020, it also announced it had eliminated all soya from the feed of animals used for its dairy milk, replacing it with rapeseed oil and sugar beet.

Companies' statements on where their soya comes from:

Pea & chickpea

Yellow split peas are another of the newest milk ingredients currently gaining a following in the UK. They have been praised for tasting a lot like dairy milk. Peas are nitrogen-fixing, so when included in crop rotation cycles, they can reduce the use of nitrogen fertiliser, and the release of nitrous oxide, which has a significant impact on global warming.

Oats

While the average carbon emissions of growing oats might be fairly similar to that of soya or almonds, if shopping in the UK, the oats in your oat milk were probably grown closer to home than many other popular plant milk ingredients.

Oats require less water to grow than almonds and, while they do require a fair bit of land, there is little risk that tropical rainforest has been razed to the ground to grow them.

Rice

Rice can have a higher greenhouse gas impact than other cereals due to the methane produced by flooded rice paddies. However, it isn’t really clear if it makes much difference to the carbon footprint of rice milk – some analyses find it somewhat bigger than the other alternatives to dairy, but others don’t. Either way, rice milk still comes out as far better for the climate than dairy milk. For more discussion of the ethical issues around rice see our shopping guide to rice.

Almond

Over 80% of the world’s almonds are grown in California, which experienced severe drought for much of the last decade, with 2022 to date the driest year of the last 128 years. For this reason, almond milk may be one of the least ethical options compared to other plant milks. However, it’s worth keeping a sense of perspective.

Not only does it also take plenty of water to produce dairy milk (some analyses put it at similar, some more, and some less than almond milk), but the comparison is pertinent to California, which produces more dairy milk than almonds (in dollar terms) and uses more water to grow alfalfa to feed livestock than it does to grow almonds.

It’s also worth pointing out that almonds are used for all sorts of products (oil, flour, cakes and sweets, etc.) and are popular for cooking and snacking around the world.

Another issue is that Californian almond farmers often use a lot of pesticides, which can be harmful to the health of wildlife and people. It has been a particular cause of concern for bee welfare. The use of bees to pollinate California’s almond monocrops is also thought by some to be putting bees under a lot of stress.

But all of the almond milk brands in this guide, except Bruce, Glebe Farm and Linda McCartney, stated that they source almonds from the Mediterranean, either Italy or Spain.

While issues with Californian almonds get more attention because of its huge market share, pesticide use is also an issue in other countries, and with other ingredients. The easiest way to avoid high pesticide use is to choose an organic certified product. The following brands sell organic almond milk: Alpro, Bruce, Plenish, Provamel (Danone), ReRooted, Rude Health, and The Bridge.

Coconut

Coconut is not associated with deforestation like palm oil or soya.  However, coconuts are largely grown in places such as India, Indonesia and the Philippines, so it’s an ingredient that has to travel a long way to reach the UK market.

Coconuts are largely grown by smallholders, and tree crops (cocoa is another example) grown in the poorer parts of the world are often associated with poverty.

One reason is that they take years to establish, and after farmers have invested in them they’re pretty much stuck and have to just keep harvesting them, no matter what they’re getting for them. This tends to lead to low and volatile prices, and most coconut farmers are very poor.

Fairtrade, with its floor price and a price premium, was partly designed to help with this issue. However, there are no Fairtrade brands currently available since Lucy Bee coconut milk was discontinued.

Hemp

Hemp is naturally pest and weed resistant, and it uses little water and nutrients. It is also good at fixing nutrients into the soil and works as a reasonable carbon sink as well. Large scale hemp cultivation can be difficult due to its association with its close relative, the cannabis plant. In the UK you need to obtain certain licenses to grow hemp as it is considered a controlled substance, despite it being the more well-behaved member of the family that will categorically not get anyone high.

Which plant based milk brands are in this guide?

Some brands have been removed from the guide, such as Lucy Bee fairtrade coconut milk, which was a Best Buy. Lucy Bee stated that the knock-on effect of the pandemic led to increased shipping costs and de-listing by supermarkets, which unfortunately made this product unviable.

Other brands have been left out as they are less widely available, such as Isola Bio or Ecomil, or are no longer available, such as Granovita, or Holland & Barrett own brand.

We have not included supermarket own brands on the table, but we comment on their prices, what they sell, and why we should use other retailers if possible. Our guide to supermarkets has more detail about their ethics and environmental records.

Which vegan milk brands make what kind of plant milk?

On the score table we have indicated where a brand only makes one or two types of milk. But some brands make a broader range so the table below lists all the brands in this guide.

Rebel Kitchen make their milk with "a blend of organic & sustainable plants", which varies according to the type e.g. barista, but they use coconuts, cashews, oats, fava beans, sunflower seeds, and hemp protein.

How much do plant milks cost?

As with many foods and products there is a price difference for plant milks, with cheaper supermarkets at one end and smaller companies at the other.

Should I buy vegan milk from a supermarket?

With Tesco own-brand dairy milks ranging from 58p per litre (only for large 3.4l bottles) to £1.22 per litre for a small pint bottle (or £1.24/litre for 2 litres of organic), its own-brand soya milk prices are actually cheaper – at 55p non-organic and £1.15 organic.

Supermarket own brands are cheapest generally, but supermarkets don’t score well in our ratings, partly as they are involved in so many complex supply chains that its almost impossible for them to guarantee good conditions for workers or animals across the board. Many are also involved in tax avoidance and pay their directors obscene amounts of money.

If we look at non-supermarket brands, Yeo Valley organic dairy milk is £1.65 for a litre in Tesco, so the cheapest organic soya or oat from a health food shop also compares well, at £1.50 or £1.75.

Health food and wholefood shops around the country are usually small independent businesses, and probably source from ethical wholesalers such as Suma, Infinity or Essential, all of which are workers’ cooperatives, and vegetarian only. These are all good reasons to support your local wholefood shop if you are able to.

Which is the best vegan / plant milk for coffee?

Things have moved on a bit from the days of plant milks constantly curdling in coffee. Many brands now add an acidity regulator to prevent this, or have a barista version designed especially for steaming or frothing, which is often oat milk. However if you’re new to plant milk, it might take a bit of testing to find your preferred taste.

If you’re using the milk for cereal or smoothies, there’s more flexibility on flavour, but for tea or coffee, if you don’t already drink it sugary, some plant milks might taste a bit sweet, or just not what you’re used to.

Soya milk tends to be more neutral tasting as long as its unsweetened, while oat is naturally sweeter and rice even more so. Pea milk is said to taste quite like dairy, nut milks should taste like the nut they’re made from, and potato milk, fortunately, doesn’t taste of spuds!

How eco-friendly is plant milk packaging?

The vast majority of plant milks are sold in litre cartons, although Califia use plastic bottles for some milky drinks.

Oato and ReRooted, two of our Best Buys, use reusable glass bottles. They both gained half a Product Sustainability mark because their milks are in glass bottles that are collected and reused, and Oato gained another half mark for using only existing milk rounds. It also sells pint sizes which might suit some better than litres.

Minor Figures has refill stations, the locations of which can be found on its website. It may be possible to refill smaller size bottles here too.

While the environmental impact of packaging types varies somewhat, it’s a small proportion of your plant milk’s carbon footprint. A litre Tetra Pak carton has a carbon footprint of around 40 grams, which is only about 3-6% of the footprint of the contents.

The bigger carbon difference is between choosing plant milk over dairy, where you can at least halve the carbon impact. But look out also for oat milk powders, which may soon be available in the UK.

Plant milk vs dairy milk packaging

The carbon impact of producing a plastic bottle is around three or four times that of a carton. So, even with their different recycling rates, cartons work out better than plastic. However, if you make your own plant-based milk – or buy from the brands that reuse glass bottles – you can avoid the whole issue of cartons and plastic altogether!

Cartons (most plant milks)

• 75% card, but layered with plastic, and for long-life cartons, aluminium too.
• Recyclable when materials are separated.
• Globally only 27% are recycled, but collected kerbside in most of the UK.

Plastic bottles (most dairy milks are in Polythene (PE) bottles)

• Recyclable back into bottles, in theory.
• 60% of plastic bottles in general (including other plastic types) are recycled in the UK.
• Dairy milk plastic bottles may be recycled into plastic bags, black sacks etc

Nutrition of plant milks

While dairy milk is uniquely high in protein, that is because it is made for baby mammals which are not eating any other foods. As dieticians at the Vegan Society say, it is completely possible to get enough protein from food sources such as beans, nuts and pulses.

Plant milk does contain protein, as the general figures in this table show. But check the nutrition label of any given product for more information, as some may add more in. For example, Dug potato milk also contains pea protein which brings its protein levels per 100 ml up to 1.3 g. 

For more information on meeting nutritional needs if you are switching to a wholly vegan diet, especially if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, see the NHS advice page.

Score table ethical and environmental issues with plant milk

Carbon Management and Reporting

This is the first time we have used our new carbon management and reporting rating in the plant milk guide.

The following companies received our best rating for carbon management and reporting: Oatly, Sharpham Park, Oato, Plamil and The Organic Plantmilk Company (ReRooted).

Many companies received a middle rating because although not reporting on their emissions or demonstrating plans to reduce them, they were providing a lower carbon alternative, and not dairy milk. This included: Veg of Lund (Dug), Glebe Farm, Good Hemp, First Grade International (Koko), Watkins Drinks (Mighty), Minor Figures, Rude Health, Rebel Kitchen and The Bridge.

Britvic (Plenish), Califia Farms and Hain (Linda McCartney) also received a middle rating for meeting some, but not all, of the criteria.

The two big dairy companies in this guide, Arla and Danone, also received middle ratings. On the one hand they were publishing emissions data and had reduction targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative. On the other hand, they operate in the high-impact sector of dairy farming, and while demonstrating some success at reducing impacts, both had also received criticism around whether reality would really match up to their claims.

These companies all received our worst rating: Blue Diamond (Almond Breeze), Soulfresh (Bruce), and Olga (Sojade).

Palm oil

While palm oil wasn’t found in plant milk itself, many of the companies in this guide are using it in their other products.

Blue Diamond Growers (Almond Breeze), Soulfresh (Bruce), Hain (Linda McCartney), Oatly, and First Grade International (Koko) all received our worst rating for their palm oil policies.

Danone and Arla received our middle rating.

Plamil received our best rating, and the rest of the companies were found to be palm oil-free.

Executive Pay

While the cost-of-living crisis is forcing many people to make difficult choices, the top executives of larger companies are probably not worrying too much about having to tighten their belts.

The following companies lost a whole mark under our Anti-Social Finance category for paying executives annual salaries over £1 million: Arla (Jörð), Britvic (Plenish), Danone (Alpro and Provamel), and Hain (Linda McCartney).

Companies that paid annual salaries over £250,000, or companies with turnovers above £1 billion that were not publishing executive salaries, also lost half a mark. These were: Oatly and Blue Diamond (Almond Breeze).

Organic companies

The Bridge, Rebel Kitchen and ReRooted each gained a whole company ethos mark because they are fully organic companies.