{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,28]],"date-time":"2026-09-28T13:02:05Z","timestamp":1790600525978,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,28]],"date-time":"2026-09-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790553600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Nutr."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Climate awareness is increasingly proposed as a motive for lower-meat eating, while research involving children and adolescents spans distinct outcomes, from knowledge and willingness to food provision and measured intake. This Mini Review synthesizes these outcome levels and the conditions that connect them. A targeted structured search of Web of Science and Scopus identified surveys, qualitative studies, message and food-education interventions, family and school provision studies, and nutritional analyses. Evidence was organized as climate-linked motivational, proximal behavioral, and intake-association evidence; provision- and intake-change evidence; and contextual or feasibility evidence. Climate-related motives coexist with health, taste, identity, convenience, and social norms. One preregistered study comprising two randomized message experiments reported changes in immediate sustainable choices and intentions. A cross-sectional youth analysis linked climate attitudes with current intake, retrospectively reported reduction, and future intention, whereas a provision-based family trial supplied the clearest within-study change in meat intake. Family gatekeeping, school-food systems, product acceptability, culture, affordability, nutrition, and equity shape opportunities across these routes. Age changes opportunities for dietary agency: decision control may be adult-led, shared, or youth-led within age groups and settings. Climate awareness therefore occupies one motivational position in a multilevel evidence map. Connecting motivation with acceptable, accessible, and nutritionally adequate food environments provides a testable framework for sustained dietary change.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fnut.2026.1967214","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,28]],"date-time":"2026-09-28T12:48:51Z","timestamp":1790599731000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Climate awareness and lower-meat eating among children and adolescents: potential behavioral pathways and contextual conditions"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Lu","family":"Xing","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Preschool Education, Changsha Normal University","place":["Changsha, China"]},{"name":"School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management, Taylor's University","place":["Subang Jaya, Malaysia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xueqi","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Taylor's Culinary Institute, Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management, Taylor's University","place":["Subang Jaya, Malaysia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"181","DOI":"10.1017\/S0954422419000295","article-title":"The role of meat in the European diet: current state of knowledge on dietary recommendations, intakes and contribution to energy and nutrient intakes and status","volume":"33","author":"Cocking","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nutr Res Rev"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"5323","DOI":"10.3390\/su17125323","article-title":"Adolescents' perceptions of sustainable diets: myths, realities, and school-based interventions","volume":"17","author":"Silva","year":"2025","journal-title":"Sustainability"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/nutrit\/nuaf257","article-title":"Parents' and children's perceptions and attitudes towards traditional and novel plant-based meat alternatives: a scoping review","author":"Goh","year":"2025","journal-title":"Nutr Rev"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1007\/s11027-021-09963-4","article-title":"Lifestyle decisions and climate mitigation: current action and behavioural intent of youth","volume":"26","author":"Pickering","year":"2021","journal-title":"Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"904","DOI":"10.1017\/S1368980021003244","article-title":"Rationalisation of meat consumption in New Zealand adolescents","volume":"25","author":"Latimer","year":"2022","journal-title":"Public Health Nutr"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3333","DOI":"10.3390\/foods14193333","article-title":"Education and meat consumption and reduction: the mediating role of climate literacy","volume":"14","author":"Kirbi\u0161","year":"2025","journal-title":"Foods"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"688131","DOI":"10.3389\/fnut.2021.688131","article-title":"Adolescent's willingness to adopt a more plant-based diet: a theory-based interview study","volume":"8","author":"Havermans","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front Nutr"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1045","DOI":"10.1108\/BFJ-06-2024-0643","article-title":"How to SHIFT adolescents' behavior toward alternative proteins? 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