2021: The Year of Climate Action in the Food Industry

Written By: Nigel Edwards

Why do we need to take action?

This year is a hugely important one when it comes to our climate ambition as an industry, not to mention on a global scale. With the international climate summit, COP26, being held in the UK from 31^st October to 12^th November, this is the ‘Year Of Climate Action’, and the food industry needs to be leading the charge. The civil society pressure for meaningful action is accelerating, especially with the realisation that the COVID crisis cut global emissions in 2020 by only around 10%. Their focus has now also shifted to diet and packaging and the concept of the circular economy (reduction, re-use, recycling of material resources) is increasingly being presented as a route to carbon reduction as well as greater material security.

Climate played an important part in the UN Food Systems Summit on 23rd September this year, another key theme was nature, often characterised as biodiversity (number of species and health of habits) or highlighted as species extinctions.

On the same issue of biodiversity, the next Conference of the Parties of the UN Convention on Biodiversity will take place from 11^th – 15^th October online, with part 2 following in China in April-May 2022, where a ‘Paris style agreement’ deal for nature is sought.

We are entering the Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, thus there is a rising awareness in government of the critical sustainability boundaries that industry in general, and food in particular, must work within.

The Food Industry is reacting to the climate crisis by aligning our actions to Science Based Targets, to ensure we have decarbonisation plans that are aligned to the IPCC track towards net zero. The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) continues to gather pace with currently 1,845 companies taking action to join the 919 who have already set targets. The level of ambition can be aligned to different targets but must at least meet our share to cap global warming at well below 2C.

We have been declaring the carbon footprints of business in terms of the Scope 1 and 2 emissions associated with our operations and increasingly the expectation is to also declare your Scope 3 (external) emissions associated with the supply chains, transport, and how the product is used by the consumer. The footprints of food companies will generally be almost all in these scope 3 supply chain elements and our responsibility for those must be taken seriously.

Who’s driving the change?

Not only are the leading climate change organisations pushing ahead on 2030 goals in 2021, there is also mounting pressure coming from our customers. With consumers being bombarded with messages about how critical the planetary threats are becoming, there is increased public attention on these areas and consumer alliances are lying with those who are doing the most.

David Attenborough, whose new film “A Life on Our Planet” documents the dangers posed by climate change and the extinction of species, is leading a campaign by conservation groups for the world to invest $500 billion a year to halt the destruction of nature, saying the future of the planet was in “grave jeopardy”.

As an industry, we need to talk to the consumers that buy our products and listen carefully to the research done by the wider agencies that map the behaviours of the different generations. It is very clear that consumers of all ages are becoming increasingly concerned about all of the environmental issues facing our planet, but particularly over plastic pollution and the climate crisis. On top of this, the awareness of the impact of their diets on their health is also driving decisions on the proteins they choose and how they are consumed.

The younger generations are more intuitively aware of how the food they eat affects the planet and will make more efforts to change their diets if they are confident it will make a difference.

Other currents of influence include the call on consumers to influence the investors that are holding their pensions, to make their money matter. Richard Curtis is a leader of that movement having helped lead some major campaigns to drive out poverty and address climate change. His presentation in the WEF Green Horizon Summit forum in September 2020 on ‘Make My Money Matter’ is worth watching, as are the other speakers that follow him.

The financial industries have taken on board climate change as a financial risk and are expanding their scrutiny of companies and investment strategies accordingly. The Task Force on Climate related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) continues to gain traction with institutions globally. The UK Government was one of the first to endorse the TCFD's recommendations and has made reporting mandatory with a roadmap setting out the pathway to 2025.

The narrative on climate has moved from the already challenging ‘transition risk’ and associated costs to a broader ‘just transition’ as social elements are factored in.

Building back better

As we see global government debts rising, driven by Covid-19, there will be an increased focus on investment in sectors that can bring growth. The commitments to build back better should see investments in sustainable low carbon economies and we have a huge opportunity to include agriculture in these plans while keeping food affordable.

A quote from UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres : “Everything we do during and after this crisis must be with a strong focus on building more equal, inclusive and sustainable economies and societies that are more resilient in the face of pandemics, climate change and the many other global challenges we face”.

Society also needs to be healthier and more resilient to future health threats, with less obesity and other underlying issues. The diet people eat will need to change to deliver the demand for food that is truly healthy for us and healthy for the planet.

All of these challenges come together in the long term strategies from governments such as EU Farm to Fork and the UK National Food Strategy.

So, what next?

It’s clear to see that there is change all around us in 2021 and a real shift of the tides is in motion.

For those of us working in the food industry there is an increased level of pressure, but also opportunity in the CSR space – to do what is right and what our customers and consumers are calling for. Those who get on board now will have a key point of difference with the consumer and will avoid the higher costs and struggles in ‘catching up’ going forward.

There needs to be sector by sector plans to unite us in a common direction and then an overarching vision for food systems that are in balance with the planetary boundaries and deliver affordable healthy food.

As an example I was recently involved in the launch of the UNGC Sustainable Oceans Platform vision for sustainable seafood.

This puts forward six key enablers which could accelerate the sustainable development of the seafood industry - from unlocking sustainable finance and ratifying international conventions, to moving beyond data disclosure, rewarding progress, and incorporating wider food system dimensions into both policy and sustainability-related services.

Infographic 2021- The Year of Climate Action in Food 2 (1)

Food production must grow to feed the 9 billion people that will call this planet home by 2050. However, this challenge must be set within the context of a growing consensus that our food system is increasingly vulnerable, with rising environmental risks from climate change, soil degradation, loss of biodiversity and antimicrobial resistance among others.

We need to collaborate globally to help make farming and fishing more sustainable and then help communicate that to the consumers who increasingly demand food that is healthy for them and for the planet.

Keep an eye our blog for more updates as we dive deep on the issues listed above and other food industry challenges, opportunities and successes in 2021 and beyond.