Editor’s note: Danone and Nestlé back mandatory food company reporting
The latest edition of our Sustainable Views newsletter
Dear reader,
Mandatory public reporting by food companies of sales data on health and sustainability metrics is one of the calls from the chief executives of leading food corporations, including Danone UK and Ireland, Nestlé UK and Ireland, and the wholesale food provider Bidfood, for the next UK government.
The so-called Hope Farm statement, signed by the heads of corporates and big UK environmental groups and published today by the non-profit Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, calls on the next UK government, likely to be led by the Labour party, to implement a bold national food and farming strategy “as a matter of urgent national priority”.
The statement highlights the “significant societal and environmental cost” of the post-second world war food and farming policies that continue today, underlining the negative impacts on health, farmers, food security and the environment in terms of emissions and waste.
Inspired by the National Food Strategy, the 2021 government-commissioned review the incumbent Conservative government has largely ignored, the Hope Farm statement outlines six recommendations to create a healthier, more sustainable food and farming system in the UK. The proposals include legally binding targets and policy coherence; increased public and private funding to support farmers to transition to more sustainable practices and a guaranteed agricultural budget; mandatory nutrition and sustainability public procurement standards; and tighter regulation on unhealthy food.
The sixth and final recommendation is for measurement and disclosure frameworks to “enable decision-makers to assess the impacts of their policies and delivery for climate, nature, health and social capital”. The corporate and non-governmental organisation leaders see “mandatory public reporting by food companies of sales data on health and sustainability metrics” as central to this ask.
A survey published on May 1 by the National Farmers’ Union shows confidence among UK farmers has reached an all-time low, with 65 per cent of them seeing a decline in their profits. Their situation has been made more difficult by recent weather conditions, with the country seeing record rain levels in the first months of 2024, a trend that fits with climate change models. At the same, the UK has the third-highest level of obesity among OECD countries, behind only the US and Chile, with huge impacts for health, health services and economic productivity.
Florence, meanwhile, has dug into data showing that many big petrostates are doing the least to reduce their emissions, while most are at risk from the impacts of climate change. Brazil, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates are among the nations most exposed to the effects of climate change, shows research by consultancy Verisk Maplecroft. Yet, electricity generation from fossil fuels in all of these countries is growing.
Verisk Maplecroft head of sustainable finance James Lockhart Smith says the data results could have implications for the COP process. During the international climate negotiations, countries debate as if they are “either drivers or sufferers of climate change”, he says. “But our analysis reveals a clear overlap between those perpetuating global warming and the societies and economies set to face the harshest consequences.”
A full round-up of the week’s ESG news can be found here.
Have a good weekend,
Philippa
Philippa Nuttall is the editor of Sustainable Views
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