EATING FOR 2 DEGREES NEW AND UPDATED LIVEWELL PLATES SUMMARY REPORT © J OH N D A N I E LS / WWF Cover photo © Kelly Sillaste / Getty Images / WWF Contributors Gerard Kramer, Bart Durlinger, Lody Kuling, Willem-Jan van Zeist, Hans Blonk, Roline Broekema, Sarah Halevy Design madenoise.com CONTENTS May 2017 FOREWORD .............................................................................................4 About WWF KEY FINDINGS ........................................................................................6 WWF is the world’s leading independent conservation organisation. We’re CAll TO ACTION ...................................................................................7 creating solutions to the most important environmental challenges facing the WHAT WE SET OUT TO DO ...............................................................8 planet. We work with communities, businesses and governments in over METHODOLOGY .....................................................................................9 100 countries to help people and nature thrive. Together, we’re safeguarding the LIVEWell PRINCIPLES .................................................................... 10 natural world, tackling dangerous climate change and enabling people to use only ADULT 2020 PlATE ...........................................................................11 their fair share of natural resources. ADULT 2030 PlATE .......................................................................... 12 Food is at the heart of many key environmental issues WWF works on. EATWell GUIDE COMPARISON .....................................................13 Growing, producing and importing food contributes substantially to climate ADOleSCENT, elDERLY AND VEGAN PLATES ......................... 14 change. It’s a driving force behind habitat and biodiversity loss. And it’s a huge drain COST AND HISTORICAL TRENDS .................................................. 17 on water resources. That’s why helping to develop a sustainable food system for CONCLUSION .........................................................................................18 healthy people and a healthy planet is one of WWF’s priorities. Find out more about our work at wwf.org.uk/food About Blonk Blonk Consultants helps companies, governments and civil society organisations put sustainability into practice. Our team of dedicated consultants works closely with our clients to deliver clear and practical advice based on sound, independent research. To ensure optimal outcomes we take an integrated approach that encompasses the whole production chain. www.blonkconsultants.nl © JOHN DANIELS / WWF © G LOBAL 4 EATING FOR 2 DEGREEs – nEW AND UPDATED LIVEWELL PLATES W ARMI N G I MAG E S FOREWORD / WWF At WWF, we know that what we eat and how it’s produced have consequences for the whole planet. Research shows that 20-30% of total global direct carbon emissions are from food and agriculture. Around 70% of all fresh water withdrawn is used for agricultural irrigation. And agriculture is the most significant cause of deforestation – and hence loss of biodiversity – around the world. Indeed, our current food system is responsible for 60% of our global biodiversity loss. A well-functioning food system and cultural needs. Our Livewell depends on a rich web of work has successfully put the topic organisms, and animal and plant of sustainable diets on the agenda species. Food is therefore at the of governments, food companies heart of our work if we want to and health organisations. achieve our vision of a world which allows people and nature to thrive. Building on this success, the new Eatwell Guide1, and the Paris WWF has worked on food Agreement2 we decided it was consumption since 2010. In our time to update our Livewell work. first report Livewell: a balance of healthy and sustainable food In Eating for 2 degrees – new and choices we demonstrated that updated Livewell Plates we look we can significantly reduce our at what we need to eat between environmental impact by changing now and 2030 to stay on track to the balance of our diets. We reduce UK territorial emissions by introduced our Livewell Plate – a 60% as advised by the Committee visual representation of the types on Climate Change. We’ve added and portions of food we need to further environmental criteria to have for a nutritionally viable, low- our work – notably water use and carbon diet. land footprint – and incorporated drinks into the analysis. We’ve also Over the years, we’ve shown how developed Livewell Plates for the a healthy, sustainable diet can elderly, adolescents and vegans. help us achieve a 25% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from We remain committed to our the European Union food supply work on sustainable diets chain, and that the Livewell Plate and believe this report makes can be adapted to reflect other important contributions to the countries’ nutritional guidelines food systems debate. 1 The Eatwell Guide (formerly the Eatwell Plate) is a visual communications tool created by the UK Food Standards Agency to promote nutritionally healthy diets https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-eatwell-guide 2 The Paris Agreement aims to reduce man-made greenhouse gas emissions to a level that limits the global average temperature-rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, with an aspirational goal of 1.5 degree Celsius. In the UK, the Committee on Climate Change has advised the government to reduce territorial emissions by 61% from 1990 levels. For this report we’ve rounded this down to 60%. 6 EATING FOR 2 DEGREEs – nEW AND UPDATED LIVEWELL PLATES 7 KEY FINDINGS CAll TO Eating for 2 degrees – new and updated Livewell ACTION Plates demonstrates WWF works with key that by following a stakeholders from all Livewell diet you’ll get areas of the food sector to your required amount define the boundaries of of calories, as well as a sustainable food system all nutrient and dietary which enables people and requirements presented nature to thrive. in the Eatwell Guide. This includes a minimum of To achieve this goal we call on: five portions of fruit and • The UK government to request advice vegetables per day, two from the Committee on Climate Change servings of fish per week, on setting a goal to reduce emissions and a maximum of 70 from the food system, including grams per day of red and overseas emissions resulting from UK consumption. processed meat. • The UK government to develop The environmental benefit of eating healthy eating advice (in the form of according to the Livewell Plates is a 30% the Eatwell Guide) that incorporates reduction in carbon footprint by 2030 sustainability. compared to 1990 levels. In addition, • The UK government to develop the Livewell Plates have lower impact on an integrated food policy with land-use change and land occupation. a centralised responsibility for The estimated cost of most of the implementation. Livewell Plates is minimally higher than • The farming and processing sector the current diet. Although this is an to develop a demand-led strategy to approximation, it’s important to note increase consumption of fruit and that food costs are predicted to go up vegetables, support improved consumer over time with the cost for high-input health, and deliver growth for the UK food – such as those based on animal horticulture and potatoes sector. feed – rising faster and further than the low-impact food in the Livewell diet. • Retailers and the food service sector to reformulate recipes and develop The carbon footprint of an individual’s menus that will increase the range of diet in the UK has been halved over food products that contain fruit and the past five decades, mainly by vegetables – particularly ready-to-go improvements in food production. products and ready meals. However, as 20% of total direct carbon emissions globally are from food and agriculture, it’s safe to say that further reductions from the production © G sector – as well as emissions related to LOBAL consumption – are needed. W ARMI N G I MAG E S / WWF 8 EATING FOR 2 DEGREEs – nEW AND UPDATED LIVEWELL PLATES 9 WHAT WE SET OUT TO DO MeTHODOLOGY The aim of Eating for 2 degrees – new and updated Livewell The analysis behind the Livewell Plates is carried out with Plates was to look in more detail at the environmental a tool called Optimeal, which uses a data programming consequences of our dietary choices. We wanted to use process known as optimisation. In simple terms, it takes additional environmental criteria to update the 2020 Plates the nutritional requirements of each consumer group and to produce individual Plates for 2030 for four separate and finds a division of food products that meet these groups: adults, adolescents, the elderly and vegans. The needs. Various environmental constraints (such as a Plates presented in this report meet current national maximum carbon footprint) can be included, and the nutritional requirements. They also contribute to our optimisation process will hone its approach so these are national carbon reduction target, which for this report is part of its solutions. Our goal was to find a diet with the rounded down to 60% from 1990 levels by 2030, in line with fewest possible changes relative to the current diet, while our commitments towards the Paris Agreement. meeting all restrictions. In the report, we assumed the food Livewell is not about telling people they The quality of Optimeal’s analysis depends sector needs to make the same level of can’t