The FCRN and the Food Foundation have jointly produced new report based on a meeting, held November 2016, on the topic of metrics for sustainable healthy diets for the food industry. While a range of sustainability metrics for this industry already exists, none comprehensively measure the progress (or otherwise) that food companies are taking to foster a public shift towards more sustainable and healthy eating patterns (SHEPs). The meeting report considers whether further work on such a set of metrics would be of use.

FCRN members Prof. Dr. Susanne Stoll-Kleemann and Uta Schmidt (MSc.) have brought our attention to their recent article on reducing meat consumption.

This article in Science explores the importance of social norms as a factor in sustainable behavioural change. It notes that formal institutions can drive behaviours that positively influence, for example, environmental and public health outcomes (examples given include lead pollution and acid rain). However, in many instances, it is not possible to enforce collectively desirable outcomes. Social norms, so the authors argue, are a key entry point to meaningful change in relation to many global issues.

This study estimates the environmental impacts of what it terms discretionary foods - foods and drinks that do not provide nutrients that the body particularly needs. It finds that these foods account for 33-39% of food-related footprints in Australia.

Recent research has shown that some foods have a considerably higher emissions-footprints than do others and that changes in average dietary consumption patterns towards lower-emissions foods, has potential as a climate change mitigation measure.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) has formed a partnership with major companies including Google, Sainsbury’s, Hilton Worldwide and other leaders in the food industry aimed at finding ways to encourage consumers to buy more plant-based foods.

Voluntary programs represent a widely accepted policy tool for biodiversity conservation on private land and are often market-based (monetary) rather than appealing to values and morals. A growing body of evidence suggests that market-based approaches to conservation, albeit effective and relevant in many cases, are not always sustainable in the long term.

The local food movement is one of the most active of current civil engagement social movements. This work presents primary evidence from over 900 documents, interviews, and participant observations, and provides the first descriptive history of local food movement national policy achievements in the US, from 1976 to 2013, and in the UK, from 1991 to 2013, together with reviews of both the American and British local food movements. It provides a US-UK comparative context, significantly updating earlier comparisons of American, British and European farm and rural policies.

This report from the UK nature conservation charity RSPB assesses the effectiveness of voluntary alternatives to regulation (e.g. industry self-regulation, voluntary codes of conduct etc.) in seeking to achieve public policy objectives.