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

The report, which is more than 150 pages long, lays out 14 recommendations for the UK federal government to consider, including financial rewards, reporting and trade requirements and targets for long-term change in the food system..

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

The NFS is the culmination of more than 2 years worth of conferences and discussions with industry leaders, academics, policymakers and the public.

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

In this Q&A, Carbon Brief takes a look at the report and describes how its recommendations line up– or do not align– with the UKs environment targets and decarbonisation goals.

The first part of the strategy, published in July 2020, provided recommendations for the federal government to attend to food insecurity and appetite in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. The freshly published 2nd part has actually the stated objective of supplying a “thorough prepare for changing the food system”..

What is the National Food Strategy?

The response to recentlys release saw members of parliament, celeb chefs and even rockstars weighing in on its significance.

Davey includes that, in his view, “every country in the world would gain from doing something of this kind”.

The scope of the report covers England alone, it keeps in mind that the home nations “food systems are so tightly interwoven as to be in places inextricable”. It continues that it hopes the devolved governments “might in turn discover some beneficial ideas” in the strategy.

The report itself calls the food system “both a miracle and a catastrophe”. While the current food system can feeding the “biggest global population in human history”, it says, this comes at a high ecological expense. The report notes:.

Its aim was to offer a roadmap for changing the food system from its current state to one that is healthier for the world and the population..

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

This report by @food_strategy has some interesting and far reaching concepts that would indicate a big modification for the better in our food system and make us all 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 worldwide food system is the single greatest factor to biodiversity loss, deforestation, drought, freshwater contamination and the collapse of marine wildlife. It is the second-biggest contributor to climate change, after the energy industry.”.

The NFS has actually definitely brought these problems to the forefront, Edward Davey, the international engagement director of the Food and Land Use Coalition, informs Carbon Brief.

Some have actually criticised the recommendation to tax wholesale sugar and salt as unfair or as disproportionately affecting lower-income households. Others say that the measures set out in the report do not go far enough towards making the food system more sustainable.

Why is the food technique crucial for tackling climate modification?

” Theres quite a great deal of siloed thinking of the food system. So, from the viewpoint of integrated national policymaking that delivers, its wonderful.”.

Other significant factors to the emissions consist of food, transport and fertiliser production and packaging..

Almost half of all food-related emissions are because of farming, including rearing animals. The methane produced by cows and other ruminants is “estimated to have triggered a third of overall global warming because the industrial revolution”, the report notes.

The food system has actually seen substantially smaller sized decreases in sector-wide emissions since 2008 as compared to the economy as a whole: economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions have actually reduced by nearly one-third given that 2008, however food-related emissions have decreased by only 13% over the very same time..

Greenhouse gas emissions from the food sector as a percentage of the 2008 emissions in that sector. Source: The National Food Strategy, Part II.

Research study recommends that the food system is accountable for about one-third of international greenhouse gas emissions. And the numbers are about the exact same for the UK, Dr Marco Springmann, a population health researcher at the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food, informs Carbon Brief. (The NFS report puts that figure at 19%, however various research studies draw various boundaries around what counts as the food sector.).

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

” Without resolving the emissions of the food system, it will not be possible to fulfill those climate change commitments [laid out by law] and to add to mitigating climate change.”.

Trying to develop a much healthier population while farming in a less damaging method needs partnership throughout disciplines, Davey tells Carbon Brief. He says:.

Furthermore, 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 farming have been minimal– as seen by the large green bar in the chart below.

What parts of the food strategy could make the biggest effect on climate modification?

Davey calls the suggestions a “good starting point”. He adds:.

Much of the recommendations made in the report relate in some method to climate modification or ecological sustainability. These suggestions include:.

” The question is how rapidly will those reforms really resolve the environment challenge … I think the jurys out. Is it not as ambitious as it should be, from the point of view of what the land sector needs to do to accomplish the UK national targets?

Ensuring funding for farming payments till a minimum of 2029 at the present level of ₤ 2.4 bn in order to help in the shift to sustainable farming. The report also specifies that at least ₤ 500m of this needs to be “ring-fenced” for plans that motivate habitat restoration and carbon sequestration, such as peatland restoration. Creating a “rural land use structure” that will recommend on the very best method that any given piece of land need to be utilized– whether for nature, bioenergy, agriculture or something else. The proposed framework utilizes the “three compartment design”, which strives 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), along with smaller sized centres to spur innovation to “create a much better food system”. The funds would be intended at innovating fruit and vegetable production, methane suppressants and alternative proteins, to name a few areas. Decreasing meat intake by 30% over the next decade. The report stops short of suggesting a tax on meat to accomplish this objective (as it advises for sugar and salt purchased wholesale). Instead, it states, the federal government should go for “nudging consumers into altering their routines”. Presenting mandatory reporting on a range of metrics for food companies utilizing more than 250 individuals. These metrics would include the tonnage of food waste generated.Creating a national food system data programme, which would enable businesses and the federal government to examine their development on the objectives set out in the report. The program would include both the land-use information and the compulsory reporting data explained above. Bringing these 2 kinds of information together, the report composes, will assist “develop a clear, available and progressing image of the effect our diet has on nature, environment and public health”.

What are the limitations of the food technique in dealing with environment change?

The food system “is very complex”, Gill says, “but I do not believe thats any excuse for not really highlighting some of those issues right at the start”.

The recommendations “seem to be almost sort of looking backwards instead of looking forward”, Prof Maggie Gill of the University of Aberdeen and chair of the Scottish Science Advisory Council, informs Carbon Brief. She includes:.

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

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

” There are currently lots of meat replaces on the marketplace and even more so when you think about natural meat replaces like more beans, lentils and those examples … Explaining more clearly that healthy and sustainable diet plan does not necessarily require to consist of processed meat options would have been essential, but that was missed there and rather this sort of pro-business angle was taken.”.

For example, the recommendation towards investing in development lists alternative proteins as an essential area in need of research financing. Springmann says, the alternative-protein market is currently extremely well-developed. He informs Carbon Brief:.

” Another thing that seems 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 might have changed.”.

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

” If you take the food system as a holistic thing, then you really require to address all type of problems. And if you want to address appropriately the environmental issues, plus the health concerns, you actually need to resolve the overconsumption of animal-sourced foods in our diet plans.”.

Gill also notes that the report, while thorough, does not completely consider the unintentional repercussions of its recommendations. A much greater percentage of fresh fruits and veggies is squandered than meat. So the suggestions to consume less meat may increase the amount of food waste.

How does the food technique address the contending interests of farming land use and land usage for carbon sequestration?

Establishing the strategy will involve collecting data on agricultural performance, concern nature areas for preservation (such as existing peatlands) and extremely polluted locations. It will also construct on work such as Englands trees and peat action plans– launched earlier this year– in order to recognize the land finest matched for nature restoration..

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” Implementation of any of those suggestions truly requires political will … The recommendations themselves could have been more progressive, but even the ones that exist dont appear to resonate really much with policymakers that are in power at the minute.”.

Overall carbon costs (kgCO2e) per kilogram of numerous foodstuff. The teal bars suggest the direct emissions related to the supply chain of each product, while the yellow bars show the carbon “chance expense”, indicating the amount of CO2 that might be sequestered in the land utilized to produce that food. Source: The National Food Strategy, Part II.

Nature-based solutions, such as peatland remediation and afforestation, are expected to play a significant function in numerous nations and business net-zero targets, but much of these need the repurposing of agricultural land.

In order to address these completing interests, the report requires a national land-use strategy to best assign land to nature, carbon sequestration and agriculture.

The report itself calls the food system “both a wonder and a catastrophe”. The proposed framework uses the “3 compartment model”, which makes every effort 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 centres to spur innovation to “develop a better food system”. These metrics would consist of the tonnage of food waste generated.Creating a national food system data program, which would permit organizations and the government to assess their development on the objectives laid out in the report. The right-hand side of the chart, utilizing the same scale, reveals how much land is utilized abroad to produce food for the UK. The teal bars suggest the direct emissions associated with the supply chain of each product, while the yellow bars show the carbon “chance cost”, indicating the amount of CO2 that could be sequestered in the land utilized to produce that food.

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

As an outcome, the report says, the food system is being “asked to perform a task of acrobatics” in supplying sufficient land to produce the essential food, however also to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

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

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

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

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

The chart below demonstrate how all land in the UK is allocated (left) and how much abroad land is used to produce food for the UK (best).

” The kind of land that might provide the biggest ecological benefits is often not really agriculturally efficient. The most productive 33% of English land produces around 60% of the overall output of the land, while the bottom 33% just produces 15%.”.

The chart listed below programs that when the carbon sequestration “chance expense” (yellow bars) is contributed to the emissions of numerous food groups (teal bars), the carbon cost of lamb and goat meat in fact goes beyond that of beef, due to the large amounts of land needed to graze those animals and their cravings for tree saplings.

Reducing meat consumption would likewise help relieve the strain 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 vast majority of that land.

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UK acreage divided up by purpose. About 70% is committed to farming, mainly livestock and animals feed and pasture. The right-hand side of the chart, utilizing the exact same scale, demonstrates how much land is used overseas to produce food for the UK. About half of the total land use takes place overseas. The combined land area for raising beef and lamb for UK usage is larger than the UK itself. Source: The National Food Strategy, Part II.