No time to lose: Food, diet and farming are “startlingly absent” from governments’ climate plans, report flags

22 Mar 2022 --- A new 14-country assessment reveals that actions to improve food systems are a “missed opportunity” to cut at least one-fifth of emissions needed to avoid catastrophic climate change.

Urgently, it warns that one-third of all food produced in the world – approximately 1.3 billion metric tons – is lost or wasted every year. Overall food production, processing, distribution, consumption and waste account for nearly a third of total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

However, food systems are “startlingly absent” from most countries’ official national emissions-reduction plans, according to new Global Alliance for the Future of Food research.

“Without transforming industrialized food systems, it will be impossible to keep global warming below the critical threshold of 1.5 degrees and guarantee food security. Fortunately, our work shows that thinking about food differently opens up many pathways to lower emissions,” Patty Fong, director of the Climate Program at the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

“We gathered our data by assessing each country's climate plan based on a range of criteria relating to process, content or implementation.”

Approximately 1.3 billion metric tons of food is wasted each year.Potential to slash emissions by ten gigatons
Changing the way we produce and consume food could reduce GHG emissions by more than ten gigatons a year, according to the Global Alliance. At the moment, there are “alarming gaps” between countries’ climate ambitions and workable solutions, stresses Fong.

This conservative estimate is slightly more than the combined emissions from global transport and residential energy use in 2019, and is equivalent to at least 20% of the cut needed by 2050 to prevent catastrophic climate change.

Ahead of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on climate mitigation, the Global Alliance has comprehensively assessed how 14 countries – including China, Germany, Senegal, the UK and the US – have incorporated food systems in their national climate plans.

These assessments, country case studies, and a summary report highlight the opportunities for governments to use food systems transformation to drive significant GHG emissions reductions, as well as other health, environmental and social benefits.

“We interviewed five to ten diverse stakeholders in each country to gather additional information not included in the NDC itself,” she adds. “By taking this approach, we were able to compare the NDCs across these criteria and make recommendations which any government could then apply to improve its plan.”

Flagging mammoth food waste
Even considering the approximately 1.3 billion metric tons of food wasted each year, France is the only country whose NDC includes comprehensive measures to reduce food loss and waste. 

China passed an anti-food-waste law last April, accompanied by a large-scale “clear your plate” campaign but this is not reflected in its NDC.

Colombia, Senegal and Kenya have the most ambitious measures in place to promote agroecological and regenerative locally-led agriculture practices.Food waste and loss in the US have a GHG footprint equivalent to 4% of the country’s total emissions, however the country’s NDC doesn’t include measures to address this.

“A top food waste solution identified by US non-profit ReFED is standardized date labeling on food packaging. This means the information about how long food is safe to eat is much clearer for consumers and that less food ends up in the bin,” says Fong.

“France is the first country in the world to pass legislation that forbids supermarkets from throwing away unsold food, instead requiring them to redistribute it to charities serving low-income communities.”

Other emergent food waste solutions launched this year have included plant-based energy drinks made with upcycled cascara, edible coatings for vegetable preservation, and vegan cookies and ice cream created with okara flour from excess soy pulp.

Shining a light on greener trade
Global Alliance advises that new NDCs can take the lead from UK and EU pledges to tackle imported emissions, and the Glasgow Leaders’ COP26 pledge to end and reverse deforestation by 2030.

However, according to the new report, none of countries’ NDCs fully account for emissions from food imports, particularly those linked to deforestation and the destruction of nature and ecosystems.

Germany is the only country that commits to move away from harmful subsidies that prop up intensive agricultural practices and contribute to higher emissions – such as chemical-intensive agriculture, intensive livestock production, and the production of ultra-processed foods.

Germany is the only country that commits to move away from harmful subsidies that prop up intensive agricultural practices and contribute to higher emissions.Meanwhile, none of the plans assessed include specific measures to promote healthy and sustainable diets, although this has the potential to significantly reduce emissions (by 0.9 gigatons annually), and provide other health and environmental benefits.

For example, although livestock accounts for around 5% of total GHG emissions in the UK, there is no reference to livestock production in the country’s NDC.

Colombia, Senegal and Kenya have the most ambitious measures in place to promote agroecological and regenerative locally-led agriculture practices, which are less emissions-intensive than industrial farming methods.

“We only had resources available to assess 14 countries’ NDCs, but hope that every country committed to climate action will use our framework,” concedes Fong.

“The advantage of the framework we developed is that it can be adopted and applied to any country – so this report and analysis should be useful to all governments interested in integrating food systems into their NDCs, not just the ones where we have done the detailed analysis at the national level.”

There is no time to lose
Countries have been encouraged to submit revised NDCs ahead of the next global UN climate meeting, COP27, in Egypt in November. They must do so by 2025 at the latest.

“There’s no time to lose: governments need immediately to start looking at food systems transformation as a critical tool for driving down emissions and preventing catastrophic levels of warming,” urges Fong.

“The good news is that work is already happening and many of the solutions already exist. We need better coordination and a systemic approach. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution; our toolkit can help governments reap the benefits of food systems transformation in line with other domestic policy priorities.”

By Benjamin Ferrer