Q&A: Will England’s National Food Strategy help tackle climate change?

The NFS is the conclusion of more than 2 years worth of meetings and dialogues with industry leaders, academics, policymakers and the general public.

The government has actually dedicated to producing a white paper and propositions for future laws in action within the next six months, although the early response from UK prime minister Boris Johnson has been “noncommittal” to much of the NFS propositions, according to the Guardian.

In this Q&A, Carbon Brief examines the report and describes how its suggestions line up– or do not align– with the UKs environment targets and decarbonisation objectives.

Last week, part two of Englands National Food Technique (NFS) was published, providing a broad overview of the state of the “food system”– an all-inclusive term that covers the production, processing, transportation and consumption of food– in England..

The first part of the method, published in July 2020, provided suggestions for the federal government to resolve food insecurity and cravings in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. The newly published 2nd part has the stated objective of supplying a “extensive prepare for changing the food system”..

The report, which is more than 150 pages long, sets out 14 suggestions for the UK federal government to think about, consisting of financial rewards, reporting and trade requirements and targets for long-term change in the food system..

What is the National Food Strategy?

The scope of the report covers England alone, it notes that the house nations “food systems are so firmly interwoven as to be in places inextricable”. It continues that it hopes the devolved governments “might in turn discover some beneficial concepts” in the technique.

Some have actually criticised the suggestion to tax wholesale sugar and salt as unjust or as disproportionately affecting lower-income families. Others say that the steps laid out in the report do not go far enough towards making the food system more sustainable.

” The worldwide food system is the single greatest contributor to biodiversity loss, logging, drought, freshwater contamination and the collapse of water wildlife. It is the second-biggest contributor to climate modification, after the energy industry.”.

Davey adds that, in his view, “every nation in the world would benefit from doing something of this kind”.

This report by @food_strategy has some intriguing and far reaching concepts that would imply a big modification for the better in our food system and make all of us much healthier. I hope that these strategies will be used up by this federal government. https://t.co/gl5rZJCrhO— Mick Jagger (@MickJagger) July 15, 2021.

The NFS has actually definitely brought these issues to the leading edge, Edward Davey, the global engagement director of the Food and Land Use Coalition, tells Carbon Brief.

The response to last weeks release saw members of parliament, celebrity chefs and even rockstars weighing in on its significance.

The NFS was commissioned by the UK government in 2019 as the first independent review of the governments food policy in almost three-quarters of a century.

The report itself calls the food system “both a disaster and a wonder”. While the current food system can feeding the “biggest international population in human history”, it states, this comes at a high ecological cost. The report notes:.

Its aim was to supply a roadmap for changing the food system from its present state to one that is healthier for the population and the planet..

Why is the food method essential for dealing with climate modification?

Greenhouse gas emissions from the food sector as a portion of the 2008 emissions because sector. By 2018, emissions had reduced by 13%, however none of this change was due to enhancements in agriculture. Total emissions reduced by 32% over that very same time period. Source: The National Food Strategy, Part II.

Research suggests that the food system is responsible for about one-third of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. And the numbers have to do with the same for the UK, Dr Marco Springmann, a population health scientist at the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food, informs Carbon Brief. (The NFS report puts that figure at 19%, however various studies draw different limits around what counts as the food sector.).

Other major contributors to the emissions include food, transportation and fertiliser production and product packaging..

” Without dealing with the emissions of the food system, it will not be possible to meet those environment modification commitments [set out by law] and to add to mitigating environment change.”.

Under its commitments to the Paris Agreement, the UK has actually vowed to decrease emissions from 1990 levels by 68% by 2030. The federal government has likewise set a lawfully binding target to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Springmann states:.

” Theres rather a great deal of siloed thinking about the food system. So, from the viewpoint of integrated national policymaking that provides, its great.”.

Nearly half of all food-related emissions are because of farming, consisting of rearing livestock. The methane produced by cows and other ruminants is “estimated to have triggered a third of total international warming because the commercial transformation”, the report notes.

Virtually all of the gains made in the food sector have actually been due to cleaner energy and increased effectiveness in the energy sector. Changes due to agriculture have actually been minimal– as seen by the large green bar in the chart below.

Trying to create a healthier population while farming in a less destructive method requires partnership across disciplines, Davey tells Carbon Brief. He says:.

The food system has actually seen significantly smaller decreases in sector-wide emissions because 2008 as compared to the economy as a whole: economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions have decreased by almost one-third because 2008, but food-related emissions have actually reduced by only 13% over the exact same time..

What parts of the food technique could make the most significant effect on environment modification?

Davey calls the suggestions a “excellent starting point”. Nevertheless, he includes:.

” The concern is how quickly will those reforms actually attend to the climate obstacle … I believe the jurys out. Is it not as ambitious as it should be, from the point of view of what the land sector requires to do to attain the UK nationwide targets?

The proposed framework uses the “three compartment model”, which aims for a balance in between semi-natural land, low-yield farmland and high-yield farmland to satisfy the targets of both sustainability and food production.Investing ₤ 1bn in UK Research and Innovation and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), as well as smaller sized centres to spur development to “produce a better food system”. Presenting compulsory reporting on a range of metrics for food companies utilizing more than 250 people. These metrics would include the tonnage of food waste generated.Creating a nationwide food system data programme, which would permit services and the government to examine their progress on the goals laid out in the report.

A lot of the recommendations made in the report relate in some method to climate modification or environmental sustainability. These suggestions consist of:.

What are the limitations of the food technique in resolving environment change?

Gill also keeps in mind that the report, while thorough, does not fully consider the unexpected effects of its recommendations. A much higher percentage of fresh fruits and veggies is lost than meat. The recommendations to consume less meat might increase the amount of food waste.

” There are currently a lot of meat substitutes on the market and a lot more so when you consider natural meat substitutes like more beans, lentils and those examples … Explaining more clearly that sustainable and healthy diet plan doesnt necessarily require to consist of processed meat alternatives would have been essential, however that was missed there and instead this sort of pro-business angle was taken.”.

” If you take the food system as a holistic thing, then you truly need to deal with all kinds of issues. And if you want to resolve effectively the environmental concerns, plus the health concerns, you really have to deal with the overconsumption of animal-sourced foods in our diets.”.

The food system “is really complicated”, Gill states, “however I dont believe thats any reason for not really highlighting a few of those issues right at the start”.

The report likewise “really shied” far from taking a strong position on reducing meat intake, Springmann states, with effect on both the environment and public health. He says:.

For example, the suggestion towards buying development lists alternative proteins as a crucial area in requirement of research study financing. However, Springmann states, the alternative-protein industry is already extremely well-developed. He informs Carbon Brief:.

The commissioning of the report– it was led by entrepreneur and restaurateur Henry Dimbleby– implies the report itself “reveals a little bit of a manipulated focus” towards business-focused services, Springmann says.

” Another thing that appears to be missing out on is that foresighting, wheres the world going to from other sectors … Theres going to be an improvement in farming … And its going to take years [for the recommendations in the report] to come to fruition by which time the world may have altered.”.

The recommendations “appear to be almost sort of looking backwards instead of looking forward”, Prof Maggie Gill of the University of Aberdeen, tells Carbon Brief. She includes:.

Limousin beef cattle in a barn feeding on hay, Selside UK. Credit: John Bentley/ Alamy Stock Photo.

How does the food strategy address the competing interests of farming land usage and land usage for carbon sequestration?

The chart below shows how all land in the UK is designated (left) and just how much overseas land is used to produce food for the UK (ideal).

The federal government has actually dedicated to producing a response to the technique, including proposals for brand-new legislation, within the next 6 months..

Total carbon expenses (kgCO2e) per kg of various food. The teal bars show the direct emissions connected with the supply chain of each product, while the yellow bars show the carbon “chance expense”, implying the amount of CO2 that could be sequestered in the land utilized to produce that food. Source: The National Food Strategy, Part II.

Establishing the method will include gathering data on agricultural productivity, priority nature areas for preservation (such as existing peatlands) and extremely polluted areas. It will also develop on work such as Englands trees and peat action strategies– launched earlier this year– in order to recognize the land best suited for nature restoration..

The report itself calls the food system “both a wonder and a catastrophe”. The proposed framework utilizes the “3 compartment model”, which aims for a balance between semi-natural land, low-yield farmland and high-yield farmland to fulfill the targets of both sustainability and food production.Investing ₤ 1bn in UK Research and Innovation and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), as well as smaller centres to stimulate innovation to “produce a better food system”. These metrics would consist of the tonnage of food waste generated.Creating a national food system information program, which would enable businesses and the government to examine their progress on the objectives laid out in the report. The right-hand side of the chart, using the very same scale, shows how much land is utilized abroad to produce food for the UK. The teal bars indicate the direct emissions associated with the supply chain of each item, while the yellow bars reveal the carbon “chance cost”, suggesting the quantity of CO2 that could be sequestered in the land used to produce that food.

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The chart listed below shows that when the carbon sequestration “opportunity expense” (yellow bars) is included to the emissions of numerous food groups (teal bars), the carbon expense of lamb and goat meat really surpasses that of beef, due to the large quantities of land needed to graze those animals and their hunger for tree saplings.

As an outcome, the report says, the food system is being “asked to perform an accomplishment of acrobatics” in supplying adequate land to produce the needed food, however also to alleviate greenhouse gas emissions.

Sharelines from this story.

” Globally, the greatest prospective carbon benefit of eating less meat would not really be the decrease in emissions, but the chance to repurpose land so that it sequesters carbon.”.

Nature-based options, such as peatland remediation and afforestation, are expected to play a major function in numerous countries and business net-zero targets, but a number of these require the repurposing of agricultural land.

” The sort of land that could provide the best environmental advantages is often not very agriculturally productive. The most efficient 33% of English land produces around 60% of the overall output of the land, while the bottom 33% just produces 15%.”.

Nevertheless, UK prime minister Boris Johnson has actually already suggested his hesitancy to support some of the policy recommendations set out in the report. This does not bode well for the reports adoption, alerts Springmann:.

The report notes that with the right incentives for farmers to repurpose their land, the strategy might be equally advantageous towards farmers and the environment. It mentions:.

Lowering meat usage would likewise help alleviate the pressure on land resources, the report discovers. About 70% of the landmass of the UK is dedicated to agriculture, with feed and pastures for beef and lamb taking up the huge bulk of that land.

In order to address these contending interests, the report calls for a nationwide land-use strategy to finest allocate land to nature, carbon sequestration and farming.

The UKs Climate Change Committee (CCC) has approximated that just over 20% of agricultural land should be rewilded or converted to bioenergy or other, non-agricultural crops in order to achieve net-zero by 2050. The NFS report states:.

” Implementation of any of those recommendations really needs political will … The recommendations themselves could have been more progressive, but even the ones that exist do not seem to resonate quite with policymakers that are in power at the minute.”.

UK acreage divided up by purpose. About 70% is dedicated to agriculture, mainly animals and animals feed and pasture. The right-hand side of the chart, utilizing the same scale, shows how much land is utilized overseas to produce food for the UK. About half of the overall land use happens overseas. The combined acreage for raising beef and lamb for UK intake is bigger than the UK itself. Source: The National Food Strategy, Part II.