World Food Day
“The right to food advocates for humanitarian aid and sustainable food systems.”
Juan Echanove, FAO Page 02
“A circular economy is the only solution that can match the scale of the plastic pollution crisis.”
Aisha Stenning, Ellen MacArthur Foundation Page 08
An exclusive edition on Responsible Packaging on page 08
The right to food in a changing world
The right to food is a fundamental human right that ensures everyone has access to adequate, safe and nutritious food. This is essential for the enjoyment of other human rights and is enshrined in international law.
In our rapidly changing world, this human right faces challenges not only from climate change and dietary shifts but also from domestic crises, including armed conflict and soaring inflation.
Conflict disrupts right to food
In conflict zones such as Gaza, Sudan and Yemen, access to food is often disrupted, leading to malnutrition and hunger. The right to food advocates for humanitarian aid and sustainable food systems. For example, in Yemen, international efforts are focused on rebuilding agricultural infrastructure to ensure longterm food security amid ongoing conflict.
Globalisation and diet-related health issues
Dietary changes driven by globalisation have led to increased health issues, including obesity and diabetes. The right to food promotes dietary diversity and encourages the consumption of healthy foods. School feeding programmes supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) serve as a prime example of advancing this goal, as they source food from local farmers and ensure children receive nutritious meals.
Inflation threatens food access
Inflation, particularly during
periods of economic instability, can make food unaffordable. The right to food emphasises the need for policies that stabilise food prices and provide social safety nets. In Zimbabwe, FAO’s initiatives include cash transfers to the poorest households, helping them afford food during hyperinflation.
Climate change threat and collaboration
Climate change poses a significant threat to global food security. Erratic weather patterns and natural disasters can devastate crops and livestock. The right to food underscores the importance of resilient agricultural practices and disaster preparedness. For instance, in Bangladesh, FAO has introduced climate-smart agriculture techniques to help farmers adapt to changing climatic conditions, ensuring consistent food production.
By working closely with governments, FAO helps develop legal frameworks. In Nepal, it has assisted in drafting national policies that ensure food security and nutrition for all. The right to food is a cornerstone of human dignity and development. In our changing world, its implementation is crucial to our survival.
From farm to table: farmers’ key role in global food security
Learn how and why economically, socially and environmentally sustainable agriculture can address global food security challenges.
Food is a fundamental human right. It is at the heart of the culture, tradition, value and conviviality of any healthy community. Food comes from ‘real agriculture’ — the hard work of farmers who cultivate crops, raise livestock and produce fibre while safeguarding natural capital and maintaining social relationships in their communities.
Global food security challenges
Silver bullet solutions don’t exist; a lab cannot replace 10,000 years of history and work on the land with nature. Despite farmers’ efforts to ensure that safe, nutritious and sufficient food is available, hunger persists. Paradoxically, people who feed the world often suffer the most from hunger, especially in developing countries.
Geopolitical instability, climate change, population growth, volatile input and product prices as well as food loss and waste threaten food security. These impact agriculture and farmers’ livelihoods and highlight the interlink of political stability and food security.
Fair pay and market access
To enable farmers to ensure global food security, attention should be placed on fair remuneration for their products and services, facilitating access to markets and political stability. Climate financing, subsidies and climate-resilient innovation should be accessible and tailored to farmers’ needs.
Key actions for food security
• Establish an open, fair and rules-based global trading system: Farmers need stable market access at all levels, and all actors in the food chain must cooperate, sharing responsibilities, risks and values.
• Invest in agriculture to increase productivity and quality: Investments should prioritise farmers’ training, particularly for youth and women. Political stability and an enabling environment are prerequisites for effective investments.
• Support sustainable food production: Sustainable production involves costs that farmers should not bear alone. Legislation should prioritise sustainability and unlock investments for innovation, making it accessible and affordable to all farmers.
Embrace inclusivity and innovation
To end hunger and achieve global food and nutrition security, we must embrace diverse agricultural systems, promote inclusivity and transparency and encourage innovation while preserving farmers’ values. Decision-makers and researchers must engage farmers and their organisations and consider their practical needs and experiences while acknowledging the diversity of global agriculture.
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Juan Echanove Right to Food Lead, FAO
Dr Andrea Porro Secretary General, World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO)
How biotechnology is shaping the future of food and human health
Biotechnology and food science innovations enhance crop production, nutrition and disease prevention, with global collaboration fostering sustainable solutions.
At a time when addressing the climate and biodiversity crises has become critical, consideration of the food system and its impact is essential. From the soil beneath our feet to the waters on our shores, the time has come, for an increasingly urbanised global population, to understand the future of food production, consumption and waste.
With scientific understanding expanding around the interconnectivity of food and human health, there is a fast-evolving focus on nutrition and its impact. This will have considerable implications for the world of life science as we know it.
Convergence of biotechnology and food science
Biotechnology and food science have merged to create unprecedented opportunities for innovation in our food system by improving crop production, food safety, nutritional enhancement and sustainability. Moreover, innovative research is providing new insights into the relationship between poor diet and disease, which is providing new opportunities to treat and prevent many illnesses.
Genomics and genetically modified crops
Furthermore, food scientists are now developing functional foods — products that offer additional health benefits beyond basic nutrition, such as probiotics. The use of probiotics stems from the discovery that the makeup of the microorganisms that naturally live in our gut plays a critical role in human health. Good diet and nutrition are essential for maintaining a healthy microbiome. Research on the microbiome is now progressing at pace, exploring the possibilities for targeted treatment of metabolic diseases, cardiovascular disorders and cancer.
Addressing food allergies and nutrition through biotechnology
Food allergies can also potentially be addressed through biotech. This has become a huge issue over recent decades and new knowledge of plant genes and protein structures is now providing an understanding of biochemical processes that produce food allergy. Biotechnology offers the prospect of producing low-allergen or allergen null plants that could mitigate the allergic response.
The convergence of biotechnology and food science has the potential to revolutionise food.
Genomics has enabled scientists to develop genetically modified crops that possess desirable traits such as resistance to pests, diseases and harsh environmental conditions. These genetically engineered crops have the potential to increase agricultural productivity, reduce the use of pesticides and minimise post-harvest losses. This innovation is pivotal for enhancing food security in a rapidly changing world.
Impact of diet on disease and rise of functional foods
It is now understood that poor diet and nutrition can make us vulnerable to a wide range of diseases. Understanding the science behind nutrition is helping to improve diets that could have a major reduction in the impact of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer by reducing the levels of obesity, which has become a huge burden on healthcare systems in the Western world.
The convergence of biotechnology and food science has the potential to revolutionise food production, consumption and our understanding of nutrition’s role in improving human and animal health. This collaboration offers new strategies for preventing and managing diseases for a healthier and more globally sustainable future.
Global innovation ecosystems for food
To deliver solutions for this complex system of food production, in addition to existing city food strategies, we anticipate a new generation of innovation ecosystems across the globe that recognise the significance of the food sector and its impact on human wellbeing and planetary health.
These physical real estate communities will serve as hubs for ideation, discovery and the development of solutions. It will be facilitated by the close collaboration of academia, government and corporations — referred to as the ‘Triple Helix’ model.
It will be imperative for these clusters to exist in synergy with local communities, enabling a positive and measurable social and environmental impact.
Paid for by Savills
Nicky Wightman Director, Emerging Trends, Savills
Steve Lang Director, Research Analyst – Life Sciences, Savills
Dr Steve Chatfield Special Advisor, Savills Science
New plant-based manifesto calls for action from UK Government
The country’s policymakers and politicians must transition the food system to plant-based proteins to meet climate targets, improve food security, reduce healthcare spending and make us healthier.
Plant-based foods produce around one-third of the greenhouse gas emissions than animal-based foods, due to differences in land and energy use, methane emissions and resource efficiency.
Nations promoting plant-based Claire Ogley, Head of Campaigns, Policy, and Research at The Vegan Society urges the UK to follow the examples of Denmark and South Korea, which have plans to boost the plant-based industry and transition away from animal agriculture.
“We are falling behind other countries already making moves in this area, and we need our new UK Government to recognise utilising a plant-based diet as a tool,” she explains.
These countries, alongside Spain, Germany and Austria, are taking varied approaches to promote plant-based diets, driven by environmental concerns, health benefits and changing consumer preferences.
Plant-based evidence base
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s special report on climate change and land describes plant-based diets as a major opportunity for mitigating and adapting to climate change.
“The Office for Health Economics did economic modelling to see potential cost savings if England were to transition to a plant-based diet — resulting in around £121 million saved for NHS England per million people,” Ogley continues.
Charity highlights education and action
“At our core, we are an educational charity, we provide resources and evidence base to help people go and stay vegan. We also trademark vegan products, produce public-facing campaigns and research and provide advice and resources to policymakers,” says Ogley.
“More people than ever are open to changing their diets. However, to scale up, there is an urgent need for political leadership. We are primed to become an advisory group for the new UK Government.”
Alternative proteins could give British farmers a greater role in feeding the country and help make their businesses viable in the face of a changing climate.
How
alternative proteins could help solve the UK’s land crunch
We need more space to capture carbon and restore nature, but that means freeing up land from meat and dairy production with the help of alternative proteins.
Our appetite for meat and dairy isn’t healthy for us — or the planet — and we don’t have enough land to meet demand, which could double by 2050. Alternative proteins could help. The global market for them, including plant-based, fermented and cultivated proteins, could be worth £226 billion by 2035. That could dramatically alter how we use farmland and how we eat — for the better.
Solving the UK’s land crunch
In the UK, agriculture contributes 10% to the country’s carbon emissions. Adding imports, around a third of our emissions come from food. Yet, many livestock farms struggle to make a profit, with high input costs and competition from cheaper imports. Today, three-quarters of UK land is devoted to food production: we use around nine-tenths of this to raise animals. If processed meat products were made with healthier alternatives, the pressure on land would ease. Farmers would have space to restore nature and mitigate climate change, such as through planting trees on low-productivity land or restoring peat bogs, incentivised by the Government’s farming policy. This would bring new income to their farms, which doesn’t fluctuate with the weather. Many European countries depend on imported
food, and around half the land needed to grow the UK’s food is abroad. By replacing imported meat, dairy and livestock feed with home-grown alternative proteins, Britain could increase its self-sufficiency by a third.
Today, three-quarters of UK land is devoted to food production.
Policy certainty is critical In this way, alternative proteins could give British farmers a greater role in feeding the country and help make their businesses viable in the face of a changing climate. With supportive policy, we estimate the UK alternative proteins industry could support up to 25,000 jobs, including 4,000 in farming.
The new UK Government is committed to publishing a land use framework, after years of delays. It will also set out an industrial strategy. Will it support alternative proteins, which might give farmers room to cut carbon and restore nature?
Claire Ogley Head of Campaigns, Policy and Research, The Vegan Society Scan the QR code to read the new manifesto. WRITTEN BY Bethany Cooper
Lydia Collas Head of Natural Environment, Green Alliance
Households can free up £1,000 each year by cutting food waste — and supermarkets can help
In 2022, 1.05 billion tonnes of food — one-fifth of what was available to consumers — was wasted while 783 million people were hungry, and one-third of us faced food insecurity.
Most food waste occurs in households, where over 1 billion meals worth of edible food is wasted daily. This food we forget or don’t have time to eat is the equivalent of 1.3 meals a day for every person living with hunger.
Financial and global impacts of food waste UNEP’s new Food Waste Index Report, published in March, uncovers more data reaffirming that food waste is not just a ‘rich country’ problem, with significant household food waste in nearly every country where it has been measured. No one purchases food intending to throw it out. Food waste occurs quietly in the context of busy lifestyles and low kitchen confidence. Yet, cutting food waste out of our kitchens can free up £1,000 each year for a household of four, which families in the UK are currently spending on uneaten food.
How are supermarkets helping customers reduce food waste?
Food systems should simplify food waste reduction to better support households juggling multiple responsibilities, thus enhancing consumer motivation and action.
Retail environments influence not only what and how much households buy but also provide information on food safety and proper storage.
Project Drawdown determines it as the number one way we can individually address climate change, with a greenhouse gas impact over four times greater than air travel.
A data-driven solution helps food companies serve up a sustainable future
A massive database with insights from trusted scientific sources is helping food industry leaders understand — and improve — how they impact the environment.
Director,
ARetail environments influence not only what and how much households buy but also provide information on food safety and proper storage. Many supermarkets are also motivating customers to reduce food waste through various in-store and online channels. They are enhancing customers’ ability to reduce food waste by offering loose produce and various portion sizes without price incentives to buy more than needed. They also use resealable packaging and clear date labels, plus provide fridge organisation tips, food preparation techniques and leftover recipes.
Supermarkets, where most food is purchased in many countries (around 85–90% of food and grocery sales in the UK occur through supermarkets), are a key interface in the quest to halve food waste by 2030 under Sustainable Development Goal 12.3. Ask your supermarket what it is doing to help you buy the right amount, make it go further and use it all.
nya Doherty believes that, generally, people are unaware of the food industry’s environmental impact. “Yet, food creates a third of global greenhouse gas emissions,” she notes. “It’s also the biggest cause of biodiversity loss.”
Vast database enabling sustainable food systems
Worryingly, while she was researching sustainable food systems at the University of Cambridge in 2019, Doherty discovered that many food companies don’t truly understand their own operations’ impact on the planet, despite speaking of being sustainable. Realising this had to
change, she founded Foodsteps — a UK-based company offering data and decarbonisation solutions for food businesses.
Carbon accounting for food companies is incredibly complex, admits Doherty. So, by giving firms easy access to Foodsteps’ vast database — featuring data and insights from a variety of trusted sources including academia, research bodies and industry — they can understand and assess their products’ and supply chain’s impact on the environment. Ultimately, this helps them make better choices, produce better products, improve sales and, crucially, create fewer emissions.
How good data can lower environmental impacts
“Without good data, food companies can’t reduce the cost of their transition to net zero,” explains Doherty. “They won’t understand if they need to change a particular ingredient, source or product packaging. They also run a risk if they start making changes without studying the right data and insights.”
Customers include leading food service businesses and food manufacturers. “For instance, one of the largest businesses we work with has used our data to understand the carbon footprint of over 30,000 recipes, which we’ve rated on an A (very low impact) to E (very high impact) scale,” she adds. “They can then work towards redeveloping menus for a lower overall impact.” For example, they can see what happens if they swap out 50% of beef for lentils in a meatball.
Moreover, businesses can use the company’s carbon labels so that shoppers can see the carbon impact of individual items. “It’s about giving businesses and consumers more knowledge,” says Doherty. “Because knowledge is power.”
Anya Doherty Founder and Managing
Foodsteps WRITTEN BY Tony Greenway Clementine
What does GHG have to do with my dinner?
In the food chain, everything — from fertiliser to refrigeration — impacts greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).
Addressing the climate impacts of food is a growing priority for businesses. It’s a complex and evolving challenge that WRAP is supporting by developing sector standards for reporting GHGs, designing a roadmap for sector-wide decarbonisation and driving action through data.
Monitoring and reducing GHG emissions
Over 200 UK businesses joined WRAP’s Courtauld Commitment 2030 to cut food waste, reduce the pressure on water resources and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030. This is the first UK-wide commitment to climate aiming to halve emissions from UK food by 2030. To achieve the goal of a sustainable planet, businesses need to collect, analyse and use data to inform changes they must make to reduce their environmental impacts.
Scope 3 emissions reporting
footprint including indirect Scope 3 GHG emissions in their value chain. That’s where complexity comes in.
Supporting the food sector’s net zero transition
WRAP is working with Courtauld 2030 members to address the scope 3 challenge. We published scope 3 protocols to align businesses in consistent emissions measurement and reporting and consulted with these businesses, charities and government to revise and relaunch them, providing best practice support to businesses across the food value chain.
Up to 90% of food and drink businesses’ GHG impacts happen in production and processing.
Up to 90% of food and drink businesses’ GHG impacts happen in production and processing. These happen within the supermarket supply chain but are not directly part of the retailer’s business operations. We call these Scope 3 emissions and businesses must accurately calculate and reduce their entire emissions
Through the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs funding, we provide substantial improvements to the GHG data landscape with a partnership involving the University of Oxford and WWF-UK helping businesses understand and manage their complex supply chains. We’re partnering with the Institute of Grocery Distribution and Ernst & Young on a Transition Plan project to guide the food and drink sector — businesses, trade bodies and government — in meeting the UK’s net zero goal by 2050.
So, when you prepare dinner on World Food Day, know that NGOs like WRAP are working hard to support the drive to net zero food.
~Dr Andrea Porro, Secretary General, World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO)
Geraldine O’Callaghan Director of London Global Office, World Food Programme
Innovation needed to combat climate-related hunger
Conflict and the climate crisis are driving unprecedented levels of global hunger. As the gap between humanitarian needs and resources grows, innovation is bringing some much-needed optimism.
Acute hunger has more than doubled in the last five years. Approximately 309 million people around the world are struggling to feed themselves and their families — a 129% increase on 2019. At a time of global economic slowdown, the international community is struggling to keep pace with escalating needs and is looking for innovative ways to reach more vulnerable people with less money and fewer emissions.
Using innovation to tackle climate-related hunger
Extreme weather events have increased five-fold in the past 50 years, with climate-related disasters causing a record 31.8 million internal displacements in 2022 alone. As the number of crises grows, the international community is working to shift from reactive, costly, disaster response to proactive preparedness and protection.
AI-based weather forecasts aid farmers
Rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns are leading to degraded soils, lower crop yields and higher food prices. With rain-fed agriculture accounting for 95% of Africa’s food production, smallholder farmers are particularly vulnerable to any changes in the weather. However, new agricultural monitoring
innovations are helping farmers all over the world adapt to a changing climate.
For instance, Ignitia, a World Food Programme (WFP)-supported project, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to provide accurate and affordable hyper-local weather forecasts via SMS to Sub-Saharan African smallholder farmers. This location-specific guidance helps farmers improve their yield, for example through planting droughtresistant crops or planting when the weather is right.
Innovative storage systems reduce food waste
Globally, 40% of food is lost post-harvest because of poor storage. Through support from WFP’s Innovation Accelerator, Africa GreenTec is addressing post-harvest food spoilage through the development of solar-powered, mobile ‘cooltainer’ systems. The programme is dramatically cutting food waste, providing farmers with long-lasting products for market and bolstering year-round food security for communities.
These examples show the incredible potential of technology in tackling two of the world’s greatest challenges: hunger and the climate crisis. Innovation can significantly impact the lives of the world’s poor.
Essential role of standardised sustainability metrics in global food supply chains
Global food security is at risk as climate change impacts production. Sustainable practices and political action are crucial for feeding the 8 billion people on our planet.
We are seeing the impacts of climate change affect our ability to produce the food needed to feed this ever-growing population. In the UK, we’ve had the wettest 18 months on record.
Standardise sustainable food metrics
Everyone deserves to have access to quality, nutritious and affordable food, and this must be a priority for governments across the world. To ensure our long-term global food security, we must also reduce our impact on the planet, so we are producing the necessary food in a sustainable way.
However, we cannot do this if we don’t know where we are starting from. Standardisation of all sustainability metrics — how we measure the greenhouse gas emissions from food production globally — is essential to climate-friendly food supply chains as it creates a common language for countries to progress.
Prioritise food security investments
We must not underestimate the challenge of the task ahead of us. If the UK is serious about its food security — which our government has said it is — and our role in global food supply chains, it must be given the political priority it deserves.
Within the UK, there must be investment and technology to drive forward increased sustainable food production. This starts with a multi-year agricultural budget of £5.6 billion to deliver current environmental commitments and improve farming’s productivity, stability and competitiveness.
Support sustainable food production
Embedding sustainable food production in trade policy across the globe is also vital. As we continue to negotiate new trade deals in the UK, having a core set of production standards will boost the confidence of British farmers to ensure they can produce more climate-friendly food.
British farmers are on hand to be part of the solution to feeding the growing global population, but we must have the fiscal and trade policy framework to make the investments needed, so we can continue to produce food in the face of a changing and more volatile climate.
Tom Bradshaw President, National Farmers’ Union
Responsible Packaging Feature
How revolutionising food and beverage packaging can drive shift to a circular economy
Find out how innovations in food and beverage packaging can help tackle the plastic pollution crisis.
Whether it is our drinks bottles, microwave meals or sachets of ketchup, plastic packaging has become synonymous with our food and beverage products. In many cases, the packaging has become more identifiable than the meal itself.
Circular economy tackles plastic pollution
Packaging is spilling into our streets, beaches and oceans. A circular economy is the only solution that can match the scale of the plastic pollution crisis and needs the packaging value chain to expand its innovation efforts, reimagining how our food and drink containers are delivered. In this circular system, unnecessary and problematic packaging is eliminated; we innovate to ensure the plastics we do need are made to be reusable, recyclable or compostable; and finally, we circulate all plastic we use to keep it out of the environment.
Making meaningful plastics progress
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Global Commitment has united over 1,000 organisations, including household names in food and beverage production, behind this vision of a circular economy for plastics. Since its inception, signatories — representing over 20% of the market — have increased their use of recycled plastics by
1.5 million tonnes per annum (equivalent to a barrel of oil left in the ground every two seconds). Despite making meaningful progress, many signatories are on track to miss their 2025 targets, and with a large part of industry yet to take action, the world is off track to eliminate plastic waste and pollution.
Reuse models offer key solutions The packaging value chain must embrace innovations and underutilised strategies to tackle the growing plastic pollution crisis. Lessons from the Global Commitment found that moving from single-use
Packaging is spilling into our streets, beaches and oceans.
to reuse models presents one of the biggest opportunities to reduce plastic pollution. Reuse is currently niche, with the signatory group’s overall share stuck below 2%. However, with many economically and environmentally beneficial models, it is ripe for further innovation to scale.
We need the food and beverage packaging value chain to scale innovation and collaboration to ensure that our favourite products are delivered to us in a way that benefits the planet and consumers.
Scan the QR code to find out more about the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s vision for a circular economy for plastics
RESPONSIBLE PACKAGING WITH ARCHROMA SOLUTIONS
Aisha Stenning Programme Manager
– Plastics Initiative, Ellen MacArthur Foundation