Sustainable Bites: 2nd August 2023
Welcome to our biweekly round-up of food, sustainability and hospitality news bites. Dig in…
The amuse bouche
-
Defra ditches plans for mandatory food waste reporting
-
Recent heatwaves “virtually impossible” without climate change
-
Fairtrade to prioritise agroecological principles
-
Science-based roadmap to 1.5 ˚C promised for food systems at COP28
-
Positive steps towards regenerative agriculture
-
South Korean project eliminates the need for 10 million coffee cups
And for the main…
Defra ditches plans for mandatory food waste reporting
Despite time running out on our opportunity to meet Courtauld 2030 and SDG 12.3 targets of halving food waste by 2030, Defra has decided against the introduction of mandatory food waste reporting, saying instead that it will be looking at options to increase the number of businesses reporting food waste through a “voluntary approach”.
A 2022 consultation held by Defra on food waste reporting by businesses defined three possible options for the reporting: do nothing, legislate for mandatory food waste measurement and reporting for large businesses, or encourage voluntary reporting. Of the 3,851 people and businesses who responded to the consultation, 80% were in favour of requiring businesses to report food waste volumes.
Mandatory reporting would increase the number of businesses reporting on waste data, reducing overall resource consumption and having significant environmental benefits, including a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. There are also significant financial savings to be enjoyed by businesses prepared to implement stringent, measurable food waste policies, as we know through working with hospitality businesses on our Food Made Good Standard.
However, the government decided against taking a regulatory approach after an impact assessment suggested that introducing mandatory reporting would carry significant costs, citing a need to strike a balance between prioritising environmental considerations and easing potential economic impact on businesses and consumers. Instead, the government reaffirmed its commitment to the voluntary reporting scheme, which will remain in place until at least mid-2025 before undergoing a review. The policy paper published last week says that the government will “consider options to improve voluntary food waste reporting by large food businesses in England. By increasing the number of businesses measuring and publicly reporting their food waste, we expect to drive action to reduce it.”
It's likely this voluntary approach simply won’t generate a big enough impact. According to WRAP’s Food Waste Reduction Roadmap Progress Report 2022, one-third of large food businesses in the UK have provided evidence of implementing their recommended ‘Target, Measure, Act’ food waste strategy. However, the report is quick to emphasise that much more work is needed.
“…with not much time left to deliver on the Courtauld 2030 and SDG 12.3 targets of halving food waste by 2030, many more businesses need to commit to the Roadmap and get going on the journey in order to have time to deliver an impact that contributes towards this ambitious target.”
The Progress Report stresses that mandatory food waste reporting “is essential to wider adoption of the ‘Target, Measure, Act’ strategy.” It’s disappointing to see the government back away from what could – and should – have been firm, decisive and big-impact action on food waste.
Recent heatwaves “virtually impossible” without climate change
A new rapid attribution study conducted by scientists and published last Tuesday said that human-induced climate change had played an ‘absolutely overwhelming’ role in the extreme heatwaves that have hit countries across the globe this month.
China’s highest recorded national temperature reached new heights on July 16th at an intimidating 52.2˚C. Meanwhile, a heatwave in the US set multiple new records and had almost one-third of the population under a heat warning, and Europe’s Cerberus heatwave – named after the three-headed dog that guards the gates of hell in Dante’s Inferno – has seen a surge in hospitalisations. Heat deaths have been reported in numerous countries, including Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Algeria, the US and China; in Mexico alone, over 200 people have died from the heat.
Wildfires are devastating numerous countries around the Mediterranean. Firefighters across southern Europe and northern Africa have been working around the clock in efforts to contain the blazes. Fires have been reported in Algeria, Tunisia, Spain’s Gran Canaria, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Greece, France and Turkey. At least 34 people have been killed in Algeria’s wildfires, with over 1,500 people needing to be evacuated; meanwhile, the country’s temperatures soared to 49˚C, hampering relief efforts.
Seas are also recording extreme warmth, with Le Monde reporting the Mediterranean Sea reaching its “highest temperature ever.” Spikes in demand for power have negatively impacted a number of important crops, including olive oil in Spain and cotton in China, and The New York Times reports that the extreme heat is causing severe disruption in India’s food supply.
The World Weather Attribution service is a global network of scientists who investigate the influence of climate change on extreme weather events. Their report on the heatwaves in the US and Europe has concluded that this outcome would have been “virtually impossible” in a world without climate change.
Fairtrade to prioritise agroecological principles
We’re delighted to see that Fairtrade is launching a new sustainable agriculture policy embracing agroecological principles, which will encourage and support two million Fairtrade farmers and workers to work in a way that benefits people and planet.
Agroecology is a holistic approach which takes into consideration all the ecological, social and economic dimensions of our food systems and the changes needed to render them truly sustainable. The key issues addressed in this updated policy from Fairtrade include:
-
Increasing climate resilience
-
Tackling youth unemployment and lack of decent livelihoods
-
Advocating for fairer, transparent and more accountable supply chains
-
Striving for living income and living wages
-
Protecting ecosystems and natural areas.
The new policy will include increased efforts to help farmers and organisations to reduce water footprints and GHG emissions. The social side of agroecology will see Fairtrade increase its work on youth employment and livelihood opportunities, ensuring that sustainable food systems and farming as a whole are viable career options for young people in rural communities. This renewed focus on agroecology will also see Fairtrade continue to fight for sustainable consumption, supporting fairer markets and more transparent and accountable supply chains.
“We believe our new approach to agroecology is essential for a sustainable food system. It is at the core of Fairtrade’s vision for a sustainable future and for achieving the SDGs. In fact, there is barely a single one of the 169 different SDG action points that isn’t somehow related to food and farming. This means that the goals will only be delivered successfully if smallholder farmers and agricultural workers play a central role in their planning and implementation.” – Juan Pablo Solis, Senior Advisor for Climate & Environment and Javier Aliaga Lordemann, Director of Fairtrade’s Centre of Excellence in Climate & Environment.
Read more about this new policy here.
Science-based roadmap to 1.5 ˚C promised for food systems at COP28
At the UN Food Systems Summit +2, hosted in Rome, H.E. Mariam Almheiri launched the COP28 Presidency’s Food Systems and Agriculture Agenda, encouraging governments worldwide to include emissions from food systems in their climate commitments.
Nations are being urged to sign a new Leaders Declaration on Food Systems, Agriculture and Climate Action. This means a commitment to including plans to reduce food system emissions in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) – their plans for how they will contribute to meeting the targets set by the Paris Agreement.
Those nations setting appropriate emissions targets for food systems will be assisted by a new, science-based ‘roadmap to 1.5˚C’. The UN FAO has confirmed that it is on track to provide this roadmap by the COP28 summit this winter.
As things stand, just a handful of nations make reference to food systems in their NDCs – despite the enormous negative environmental impact of current agricultural and food production methods. The industries behind the global food system are directly responsible for 30% of climate change, 60% of biodiversity loss, 60% of land conversion, 70% of nutrient overloading and more than 50% of the eutrophication of water. The IPCC estimates that food and drink production alone has been the driver of 75% of deforestation by area size to date.
As host of COP28, the UAE has already updated its own NDC to include food systems emissions. It has also committed to reducing absolute emissions by 40% by 2030.
Positive steps towards regenerative agriculture
This week also saw the launch of the COP28-30 Action Agenda on Regenerative Landscapes, an initiative that builds upon existing efforts to speed up the shift to regenerative agriculture. This is led by the COP28 Presidency along with the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
The COP28-30 Action Agenda on Regenerative Landscapes will collaborate with a broad group of stakeholders, including food companies, farmers, producer organisations and civil society groups, to fast-track the regenerative transition of large agricultural landscapes.
This initiative will adopt the Regenerative Outcomes Framework (being developed by Regen10, a multi-stakeholder collaborative platform aimed at scaling regenerative food systems globally within a decade). This will drive accountability by measuring progress against tangible outcomes such as soil health, biodiversity, farmer livelihoods, food and nutrition security and the reduction of greenhouse gases. The Framework is currently being tested – with advice from farmers, businesses and other relevant contributors – with the aim of creating a holistic approach to measuring the outcomes of regenerative farms and landscapes.
A sweet treat to finish
South Korean project eliminates the need for 10 million coffee cups
Launched in 2021 by the Habit Eco Alliance – a coalition of companies, government agencies and non-profit organisations – SK Telecom’s Happy Habit Project is a public-private initiative that works to reduce the use of disposable cups in South Korea. Adopted by a number of local governments and public agencies as well as companies like Starbucks, LG Display, Paris Baguette, Il Mazzio, SKT, Daishin Securities and Pascucci, this is an inspiring example of how public-private partnerships can be used to address environmental challenges.
The Happy Habit Project works by providing customers with reusable cups at participating coffee shops. Customers pay a KRW 1,000 deposit (around £0.60 STG) for the cup, which they can then return to any participating coffee shop for a refund or clean cup.
The ‘Habit Cup’ is a reusable cup made of durable and food-safe polypropylene. The cups are designed to be used for years and are recycled at the end of their lifespan. Once returned by a customer, the cups are cleaned, sanitised and redistributed amongst the coffee shops. The cups are washed using a high-temperature, high-pressure system and dried using hot air. This system is designed to be as efficient as possible, and is meticulously monitored to ensure that the cups are clean and sanitised. They’re also visually inspected by staff before redistribution to ensure that the cups are in good condition.
In total, the Happy Habit Project has prevented an estimated 10 million disposable cups from entering the waste stream or the environment, resulting in a reduction of approximately 293 tonnes of carbon emissions.
Billions of single-use coffee cups are discarded each year – possibly as many as five billion in the UK alone. The majority of these cups are made from paper and lined with plastic, which makes them difficult to recycle. As a result, most of them end up in nature or in landfills, where they can take up to 30 years to decompose.
For more updates from the worlds of food, sustainability and hospitality, follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn, and be sure to sign up for The Sustainable Dish, our newly relaunched biweekly newsletter keeping you in the loop on news from The Sustainable Restaurant Association.
Recommended reads
-
Belu and The SRA serve up a new Small Business Guide to SustainabilityBELU AND THE SRA SERVE UP A NEW SMALL BUSINESS GUIDE TO SUSTAINABILITY -
Who is the World’s Most Sustainable Bartender 2023?WHO IS THE WORLD'S MOST SUSTAINABLE BARTENDER 2023? -
Great News! Welcoming a New Partnership with Luxury Restaurant GuideGREAT NEWS! WELCOMING A NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH LUXURY RESTAURANT GUIDE
