Achieving net zero emissions by 2050 is possible but it won’t be easy, according to a new report by a government-funded research group.

Energy Systems Catapult modelled hundreds of potential pathways to the UK government’s target date of 2050, ramping up or down different technologies and behaviour changes in order to understand the different combinations, interactions and trade-offs required to hit net zero.

Whichever approach is used, one thing stood out: innovation, investment and incentives across land use, low carbon technology and lifestyle is “essential”. Government would also have to show leadership.

Changes to food production and diets are inevitable. For example, cut meat and dairy consumpti0n by 20% and emissions fall by eight million tonnes; manage 50% and the figure is 19m tonnes. “There is considerable opportunity for changing patterns of demand in aviation and diet to contribute to net zero,” the authors wrote.

But achieving the target early, as campaign groups like Extinction Rebellion are calling for, would require “highly speculative changes to lifestyle, land use and low carbon technologies – such as banning aviation and meat production”. Such dramatic changes would be hard to swallow.