“Radical collaboration” in food and nutrition needed to limit global warming, warns Circularity Gap 2022 Report

19 Jan 2022 --- Strategies focusing on nutrition and food production could help to put the world on course for the 1.5°C global climate target, a report by Circle Economy has revealed.

The Circularity Gap 2022 Report warns that world leaders are missing the opportunity to achieve deep cuts in emissions by adopting circular economy strategies that reduce demand for resources.

It outlines a total of 21 solutions in the sphere of communications, health care, consumables, mobility, housing and nutrition, that can help meet the target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

Nutrition specifically has been flagged for contributing 10 billion tons of global emissions. The proposed solutions are:

1. Sustainable food production.
2. Reduce excess consumptions.
3. Healthy diet.
4. Clean cooking stoves.

“It is feasible to make our lifestyles more circular, but it will take action from a range of stakeholders. A global circular economy will not happen without radical collaboration,” Matthew Fraser, circularity gap reporting initiative lead at Circle Economy, tells NutritionInsight.

Circular economy solutions can have an impact on climate change because 70% of greenhouse gas emissions are related to production and use of products – from the buildings we live in and the transport we use, to the food we eat and the clothes we wear, the report highlights.Insatiable demand for resources and throwaway economy are threatening the planet’s future. 

Sustainable production and consumption
Using sustainable food production and reducing excess consumption were highlighted as the most emissions-saving courses of action in the nutrition sphere. Each approach will save 2.07 gigatons (Gt) of emissions and 3.4 Gt of material use, the report outlines. 

“Sustainable food production represents a significant avenue,” Laxmi Haigh, lead of editorial at Circle Economy and one of the lead authors of the report, tells NutritionInsight.

“Fresh, regional, local and seasonal options on the menu mean less need for hot-housing vegetables, which equates to a reduction in fuel inputs, plus fewer food miles and lower transportation impacts.” 

Across industry, a growing trend to “go local” has been observed, with consumers growing all the more interested in sustainability. Innova Market Insights crowned ‘Shared Planet’ as its Top Ten Trend for 2022, where planetary health has been described as a top concern for consumers. 

Strategies to reduce excess consumption include replacing animal feed with agricultural or food waste, less packaging on food products and food sufficiency and keeping caloric supply per person to 2,700 a day. 

“In such a resource- and emissions-intensive need, tackling food shortages and scarcity starts first with optimizing how we use the food we already have at our disposal, before looking to increase production,” Haigh adds.

It’s what you eat
Meanwhile, a healthy diet where individuals consume mostly plant-based diets and eat less processed foods, sugary foods and beverages, can help save 1.32 Gt emissions and 0.42 Gt material use, highlights the report. 

“A move away from foods with low nutritional value, such as sugary beverages and refined, heavily processed food, can be impactful. Unprocessed food is championed, alongside an ongoing decrease in consumption of all meat, fish and dairy, with a target of 100% eradication of unhealthy high-sugar, high-salt products,” says Haigh. 

Although a healthy diet requires 2,000 calories per day for a typical female, the intake in some countries may be far higher, while malnutrition persists in others, notes the report.The three most resource- and emissions-intensive areas are mobility, housing and nutrition. 

“The more calorie-intensive diets could consist of out-of-season, imported foods that have traveled across the globe or high levels of animal protein. Calling to reduce consumption here may be appropriate and even ethical, but less so in cases where access to basic nutritious food is limited.”

“The circular economy is also about achieving a structural and cultural shift where we can satisfy everyone’s universal needs within the boundaries of the planet – but there are important differences between countries and regions to take into consideration.” 

Using the fourth strategy to replace traditional polluting stoves with clean ones can save 0.97 Gt emissions and 0.41 Gt emissions of material used. 

Radical collaborations
According to Fraser, making lifestyles more circular is feasible but requires action from a range of stakeholders. Consumers can reduce their food waste and eat plant-based, but this must be enabled through national and local government action, he says. 

“National governments can create the conditions that enable and promote – or indeed block or hinder – circular transformations.”

“These conditions will directly influence the activities of businesses and cities in the nation. For instance, taxation is a powerful instrument to create the right incentives that steer the behavior of market players, such as promoting plant-based diets or subsidizing local food production,” he says.

A similar incentive was observed in the UK, where the government imposed a sugar tax on soft drinks and is aiming to restrict the in-store promotion of foods high in fat, sugar and salt from October 2022.

Opportunity for businessNutrition currently contributes 10 billion tons of global emissions.
According to the report, businesses can also play a key role as they can act before national or local governments set targets. 

“There is real opportunity for businesses to reduce costs, build resilience in their supply chains, comply with emerging policies and meet investor and customer requirements, through moving to a more circular approach,” the report outlines. 

Recently, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and 14 member companies launched the Responsible Meat Initiative, noting that meat is a high-quality protein source while recognizing that moves are needed to mitigate its environmental impact.

A global effect
Currently, the global economy is fuelling the climate crisis, with more than half a trillion tons of virgin materials consumed since the 2015 Paris Agreement, the report highlights.

“If implemented globally, circular economy strategies that target how the global population produces, transports and consumes food could remove 4.35 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere and reduce resource use by 4.54 billion tons,” Fraser notes. 

The report warns that the global economy is consuming 70% more virgin materials than the world can safely replenish: annual resource use was 89.8 billion tons in 2016 but passed 100 billion in 2019 and is estimated at 101.4 billion last year. 

More than 90% of what is taken from the Earth to fulfill human needs and wants goes to waste, with just 8.6% of materials cycled, the report says.

The report also urged leaders to bin throwaway culture for climate security, urging them to reduce virgin material consumption.

By Andria Kades