Recipe for Change: an Agenda for a Climate-Smart and Sustainable Food System for a Healthy Europe
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Recipe for change: An agenda for a climate-smart and sustainable food system for a healthy Europe Report of the EC FOOD 2030 Independent Expert Group Research and Innovation Recipe for change: An agenda for a climate-smart and sustainable food system for a healthy Europe European Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovation Directorate F — Bioeconomy Unit F.3 — Agri-Food chain Contact Karen FABBRI E-mail [email protected] [email protected] European Commission B-1049 Brussels Manuscript completed in 2018. This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. More information on the European Union is available on the internet (http://europa.eu). Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2018 PDF ISBN 978-92-79-80356-7 doi: 10.2777/84024 KI-01-18-208-EN-N © European Union, 2018. Reuse is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. The reuse policy of European Commission documents is regulated by Decision 2011/833/EU (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39). For any use or reproduction of photos or other material that is not under the EU copyright, permission must be sought directly from the copyright holders. EUROPEAN COMMISSION Recipe for change: An agenda for a climate-smart and sustainable food system for a healthy Europe Report of the FOOD 2030 Expert Group Directorate-General for Research and Innovation 2018 Bioeconomy TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface ................................................................................................................. 6 Executive Summary ............................................................................................... 7 Introduction .........................................................................................................19 1 – FOOD SYSTEM APPROACH ............................................................................19 2 – FOOD 2030 .................................................................................................21 3 – MISSIONS AS A NEXT STEP ..........................................................................24 Part 1. R&I ACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE ......................................................................25 1 - NUTRITION FOR SUSTAINABLE AND HEALTHY DIETS .......................................26 2 - CLIMATE-SMART AND ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS ..........29 3 - CIRCULAR AND RESOURCE-EFFICIENT FOOD SYSTEMS ....................................33 4 - FOOD SYSTEMS INNOVATION AND EMPOWERMENT OF COMMUNITIES ...............36 SUMMARY AND EVALUATION OF R&I ACHIEVEMENTS ACROSS THE FOUR FOOD 2030 PRIORITY AREAS ...............................................................................................38 PART 2. EVIDENCE BASE AND RATIONALE FOR RESEARCH ........................................41 A. Challenges for Food and Nutrition Security .......................................................41 B. Need for transformative innovation .................................................................41 C. Role of the government .................................................................................44 PART 3. POTENTIAL FUTURE R&I MISSIONS, FOCUS AREAS AND THEIR IMPACTS ........47 A. Improve dietary patterns and lifestyle factors for a 50% reduction in incidence of non-communicable diseases in 2030, while reducing the environmental impact of food consumption .....................................................................................................48 1. Halt the rise in obesity levels in school-aged children, adolescents and adults through tackling the multi-faceted drivers in a food systems approach .................50 2. Add healthy and independent years to the ageing population reducing by half the number of dependent older adults ....................................................................53 3. Increase the consumption of healthy and sustainable diets by doubling the diversity of accessible energy and protein food sources ......................................56 4. Improve food processing with better outcomes for nutritional and sensorial food quality as well as the environment and food safety ............................................60 5. Implement personalised nutrition strategies to reduce the incidence of Non Communicable Diseases in Europe by 50% .......................................................64 B. Create a resource-smart food system with 50% less greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 ...............................................................................................................69 6. Develop sustainable and climate-resilient food systems on a territorial scale .....71 7. Diversify fields, farms, landscapes and diets to achieve climate-proof and sustainable use of resources. ..........................................................................75 8. Redesign, re-integrate and encourage low impact animal production systems. ...80 9. Arrive at a sustainable and smart use of natural resources: zero land degradation by 2030, healthy soils, reduction of the yearly input of virgin minerals (such as phosphate) by 50%........................................................................................83 10. Reduce the environmental impact of food packaging by 2030 by 75% ............87 4 11. Halve food waste and food losses from the EU food and farming system by 2030 ...................................................................................................................91 12. Double the sustainable production of high quality food from EU aquatic systems by 2030 ........................................................................................................95 C. Realise trust and inclusive governance for a resilient and safe food system ........ 100 13. Increase food safety and consumer trust in food and food data by 50% by improving the authenticity, transparency and safety guarantees along the food system by 2030 ........................................................................................... 102 14. Upgrade innovation capabilities of small actors in food systems ................... 105 15. Strengthen the different roles of citizens in a healthy, diverse and sustainable food system ................................................................................................ 109 16. Linking cities, remote rural and coastal areas to perform innovatively in food systems ...................................................................................................... 113 17. Improve international cooperation in trade and development, especially with Africa and the Middle East ............................................................................. 117 Conclusions and recommendations ....................................................................... 123 References cited ................................................................................................. 125 Annex 1 Members and mandate of the Expert Group ............................................... 130 Annex 2 Data on past performance as presented in Part 2 ....................................... 131 5 PREFACE Europe is on the move from the present to the future. The long financial and economic crisis made us focus on the immediate problems without much room to invest in our future. With improved economic growth this period is coming to an end, although I realise that many Europeans do not yet experience this personally and have not yet recovered from the setback. The economic crisis taught us that the systems that we have set up to organise the world are vulnerable. Also our food system is far from resilient. It has too many negative effects on the environment and on our health. The system delivers more affordable food at larger quantities than ever, but this goes at the expense of future generations. This is an important insight for the direction in which we have to innovate the food system. At a global level this has been recognised by the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the signing of the Paris’ agreement on climate change (COP21). Especially the last one creates a juridical obligation for member states that makes a redesign of our food systems unavoidable. Rethinking the use of soils and the role of livestock in the food system of the future is needed. But preparing the food system for the future is not only a challenge for agriculture. A sustainable world implies sustainable consumption of a healthy diet. And although individual consumers and farmers can make important contributions, it are also other players in the food system, like retailers, food processor and technology providers but also cities and financial institutions that can make a difference. In its FOOD 2030 initiative the European Commission has recognised this challenge to make our food system future-proof. Several publications and conferences have been dedicated to the need for a food system approach with improved governance. In a next step DG RTD has asked a group of experts to appraise the current research from a food systems angle and to formulate missions that can direct the future research and innovation actions in Europe. The report of that group of independent experts is now on your screen or in your hands. It was my pleasure to chair the group and I warmly thank my colleagues for their hard work and excellent collaboration. I extend my