The global food system has delivered major human development benefits in recent decades. Food processing technology and packaging solutions, such as those that Tetra Pak has been proud to develop, have helped to protect, improve and deliver food and nutrition across the world, safely and securely.
And yet, the global food system accounts for over one third of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Approximately a third of all food produced is lost or wasted, accounting for 8% of global GHG emissions.
The current way food is sourced, processed, packaged, and disposed of, needs to change if the UK, and the world, is to meet its net zero ambitions, meaningfully address climate change, and ultimately achieve greater food security.
This report, and the discussions and research that have informed it, are an attempt to play our role in galvanising action to drive change to decarbonise the UK’s food system.
Recommendations
- The Government should explore how green public procurement can be used to encourage access to capital/R&D investments and public/private partnerships to facilitate placing on the market technologies which foster the uptake of healthier and more sustainable foods.
- The Government should take a more leading role on driving meaningful engagement with suppliers, and processors, distributors and supermarkets to develop more sustainable sourcing, production and distribution methods for food. Such collaboration should prioritise innovation within processing and packaging to ensure that consumers are able to access high quality, safe food with a reduced carbon impact.
- Healthy school meal provision should include requirements around the sustainability and environmental impact of the food being offered, alongside information about healthy and sustainable diets for children.
- The Department for Education should develop specific guidance for teachers on how the food system’s role in mitigating climate change is taught within the school curriculum in secondary schools. This would equip children with the understanding and knowledge to make informed decisions around food and drink.
- The Government should work with industry to develop consumer awareness campaigns outlining the impact of food waste, and the food choices we make, on the planet, providing examples of where small dietary or behaviour changes or substitutions can help the UK meet its climate goals.
- The Government should introduce targets for reducing food waste and loss within the food and drink sector, to drive greater action and supplement current proposals for mandatory food waste reporting from 2024.
- Policymakers should engage with the food and drink sector to develop clear metrics that provide transparency for consumers on the carbon footprint of products (across value chains) to enable more informed and sustainable consumer choices.
- Using R&D financing, the Government should foster the development of technologies which help to combat food waste/loss prevention, including the upcycling of side-streams of the food manufacturing process, which too often are viewed, unnecessarily, as waste.
- The Government should continue to create defined regulation around food and drink packaging recycling, which encourages & promotes the use of circular materials as foundational within packaging regulations. This should include specific recycling targets for all packaging materials.
- The Government should use policy and regulation which encourages the deployment of sustainably sourced, low carbon plant-based materials in packaging. This includes removing plant-based polymers from the scope of the Plastic Packaging Tax, to incentivise their adoption by packaging manufacturers and producers.
- The Government must continue to design and implement recycling policies that ensure that adequate infrastructure for separate collection of used packaging is put in place. This includes the proposed Deposit Return Scheme, which should include as wide a range of materials as possible, including cartons packages.
SHOULD WE ALL STOP EATING AVOCADOS?
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM TETRA PAK’S FOOD SYSTEMS PANEL EVENT
On 13th June, Tetra Pak hosted a discussion in the House of Commons on the best approaches to driving a more sustainable and secure UK, and global, food system.
The event, which followed the recent publication of Tetra Pak’s report, brought together an expert panel of policy makers, manufacturers, NGOs and academics, with an audience of nearly 80 wider stakeholders, to discuss strategies and approaches for decarbonising our food system and creating a ‘food positive’ future for the UK.
This is an overview of the discussion that took place.
The challenge of decarbonising our food system
The global food system has delivered major human development benefits in recent decades, helping to protect, improve and deliver food and nutrition across the world, safely and securely. And yet, it accounts for over one third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Approximately a third of all food produced is lost or wasted, accounting for 8% of global GHG emissions.
The current way food is sourced, processed, packaged, and disposed of needs to change if the UK, and the world, is to meet its net zero ambitions, meaningfully address climate change, and ultimately achieve greater food security. This will require greater leadership from Government to drive change, and broader engagement between companies and suppliers to embed sustainability in their operations.
Our panel highlighted three key areas for change during a productive discussion in Westminster.
1. We need to help consumers make better choices
The panel pinpointed the need for a change in consumer attitudes towards the types of food that we eat. People have become used to food being cheap and easily available from around the world, but this comes with a sustainability implication, and makes us vulnerable to global supply chain challenges.
Policy makers and industry will need to help consumers to recognise that attitudes towards food, and the range and types of food available, may need to change. This could include sourcing more food locally and seasonally, and making sustainably sourced food more readily available to more consumers.
The panel agreed that an important aspect of helping consumers on this journey will be sustainability labelling on food. But our panellists warned of the risks of ill-conceived carbon labelling, and stressed the need for a holistic approach to be taken, one that doesn’t solely focus on greenhouse gas emissions. Any labelling scheme should be a collaboration between government and industry; government should set a consistent framework, within which industry should drive the design and implementation, thus helping to ensure uptake and support.
More effective labelling will equip consumers with the information they need to make sustainable choices and must avoid overloading them with information that they may find confusing.
2. We have the resources we need, but we’re not using them properly
The planet has enough resources to feed our growing population, but we need better and more innovative approaches to how we use those resources.
We need to explore novel approaches to food production, with several panellists pinpointing the potential of mycoproteins to provide a more sustainable source of protein. There was a suggestion that government should take a leading role on driving meaningful engagement with suppliers, and processors, distributors and supermarkets to develop more sustainable sourcing, production and distribution methods for food.
Food waste and loss was cited as a critical issue. As well as recognising the essential role of packaging in keeping food safer to eat for longer and therefore reducing food waste, other steps suggested including better ‘upcycling’ of side-streams of food production that are currently considered as waste products, such as malt from the brewing process.
There was also agreement that consumers need clearer advice about food safety so that less food is thrown away unnecessarily – for example, by more appropriate use of use-by and best before dates.
3. We have to embed circularity into the food system
Ensuring we have good, fully-functioning waste and recycling policies is key to embedding circularity and reducing the environmental impact of the food system, including packaging.
The panel stressed the need for Defra to quickly bring clarity around policies such as Extended Producer Responsibility and consistent household recycling collections. It was also noted that not including a wider range of materials in the UK’s Deposit Return Scheme was a missed opportunity.
The panel also reflected that our approach to food packaging must embed sustainability, both through circularity, as well as the wider use of low carbon and renewable materials.
To download a copy of the report which informed this event, Food Positive: Driving change to decarbonise the UK Food System, please click here.
Sustainable and Secure: what more needs to be done to decarbonise the UK food system? was hosted by Wera Hobhouse MP on behalf of Tetra Pak in the Attlee Suite, Portcullis House on Tuesday 13th June 2023. The panel consisted of:
- Trewin Restorick, founder of Hubbub and Sizzle Innovation (Chair)
- Lord Deben, Chair, Climate Change Committee
- Wera Hobhouse MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Energy and Climate Change, Member of Parliament for Bath
- Adele Jones, Executive Director, Sustainable Food Trust
- Hannah Cornick, Head of Sustainability and Social Innovation, Danone UK and Ireland
- Katie Carson, Director Corporate Affairs Food and Climate Policy, Tetra Pak
The discussion was prefaced by remarks from Philip Dunne MP, Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee and Alex Henriksen, Managing Director North Europe, Tetra Pak.
