Healthy and environmentally friendly school meals can play a major role in tackling hunger, preventing disease and cutting climate pollution, according to new research.

Scientists at University College London (UCL) estimate that giving every child a healthy, sustainable school meal by 2030 would reduce global undernourishment by almost a quarter, prevent more than one million deaths a year from diet-related disease and halve the environmental impact of diets.

The modelling study suggests that universal school meals could cut the number of people who don't get enough vitamins by around 120 million.

“Our modelling shows that healthy and sustainable school meals can generate substantial health and environmental gains in every region of the world,” said Marco Springmann, the corresponding author of the study and a modelling lead for the Research Consortium at UCL’s Institute for Global Health, in a statement.

“The evidence is clear: investing in school meals is both effective and economically sound.”