There is no single environmental scoreboard on which every plant milk wins

The analysis compares milk products by greenhouse gases, land, water, and nutrient pollution. Dairy has substantially larger average impacts than the plant-based alternatives across the measures shown, but the alternatives do not all rank in the same order.

Almond milk, for example, looks different when water use receives more weight than emissions or land. The comparison is also per liter; equal volumes are not necessarily nutritionally equivalent.

That combination makes this a useful exercise in reading environmental claims. A product can be a clear improvement on one broad comparison without being universally best, and the chosen functional unit shapes the result. The article provides a framework for understanding those trade-offs rather than a universal dietary prescription or an assessment of every individual brand.