Transcript Food and sustainability - Nuffield International

Food, sustainability and
climate change
Bronwen Jones
Food and Farming Group
Defra (Department for the Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs)
The volume of the public debate on food has risen significantly
over recent years…
Food in the UK
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A small, cold, wet, densely
populated country producing
around two thirds of our own
food
Most of the 37% of our food
imports come from the EU
Highly concentrated food
retail, and highly efficient.
Very diverse food industry
with a wide range of
businesses
Spend around £170bn
annually on food (11% of
household spending)
Food sector provides over 3
million UK jobs
Why are we concerned about food?
• Food has a significant impact on health and wellbeing, both positive
and negative
• This activity has significant environmental impacts
• And requires a lot of land, water, energy and other resources
• By 2050 there may be 9bn people to feed globally, from the same
amount of resources and land
• Food price rises last year showed that it is a potentially explosive
issue in developing countries, and even in the UK we cannot take the
availability and affordability of food for granted.
And food has cultural significance ...
The impacts of most concern are environment and health
The Environmental impacts of product
groups across EU-25
By 2050, it is expected that 60% of Britons
will be obese
% men and women obese, England, 2007
Clothing (510%)
Other (c.
5%)
21-30
31-40
Food and
drink (2030%)
Private
transport
(15-20%)
Under
20
Age
Housing:
buildings
and
appliances
(20-35%)
41-50
Men
7%
10%
Women
15%
13%
28%
22%
26%
23%
51-60
32%
27%
61-70
31%
32%
71-80
28%
27%
Greenhouse gas emissions from food are
primarily a production issue
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Methane emissions from ruminants
(Methane has over 20 times greater
impact on climate change than CO2)
Nitrous oxide from fertiliser and soils
(which is over 300 times more
potent than CO2)
Energy from transport, processing,
cooking and refrigeration
Leaking refrigerant gases
Methane from landfill as waste food
decomposes.
Some widely held views on food and the
environment
There’s far too
much
packaging!
Food miles is the
most important
thing – local
food is best
Better labelling
is the answer
Businesses are
responsible for
environmental
damage, not
consumers
Food miles are not a good indicator of
environmental impact
Food Miles
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Features strongly in public perception of food’s
environmental impact, and in media coverage/advice, but
is not a significant indicator of the total environmental
impact
For most foods, transport isn’t the biggest source of
greenhouse gas emissions
Air Freight
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Defra research found that only £40m of the £9bn external
costs associated with food transport were attributable to
air transport (though it is increasing)
If a consumer drives 3.5 miles to the supermarket and
back, they have contributed as much to climate change as
buying a pack of air freighted beans.
Packaging can be excessive, but it has
advantages too
Unnecessary packaging seen by
consumers as an area where
business and government need
to act,
but much packaging is there to
protect the food and reducing it
would lead to increased waste or
food safety problems
Consumers are responsible for most of
the food waste, and a significant amount
of transport impacts
Waste levels in the retail and production chain account
for about 10% of all industrial and commercial waste
But the real villains are consumers. UK research by
the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP)
shows that a third of all food purchased ends up as
waste, of which half could have been eaten
The embedded greenhouse gas emissions in that
waste are equivalent to taking one in five cars off the
road in the UK
WRAP launched a media campaign last year to raise
awareness of this, and get consumers to waste less
food.
Labelling can help but is unlikely to drive
change
• people spend an average
of 30 seconds selecting a
product
EU Food Information Council, November 2008
• Do people understand
carbon units?
• Can they make realistic
comparisons and trade
offs?
What’s happening in the UK?
 Defra’s food chain programme
 PAS2050
 Projects on agriculture and climate change
 Voluntary action by the sector (FDF, Courtauld,
etc)
 Climate Change Act and statutory carbon budgets
The Food Chain Programme 2007-2009
In two years we hope to have…
•A sound evidence base: how do we put these
complex messages into policy and public
communication?
•A shared understanding by Government and
stakeholders of what a sustainable food chain looks
like
•Government and industry are motivated and
incentivised to move to more sustainable practices
•Consumers are clear how they can reduce the
impact of their food consumption
•The UK leads international thinking and action –
taking the PAS to the EU and beyond
‘to reduce the global
impact of UK food
consumption and
production’