This report from UK charity WRAP, co-authored by TABLE member Hamish Forbes, provides a comprehensive mapping of the carbon footprint of UK food and drink consumption, building up a detailed sector-by-sector analysis of where emissions arise and how that has changed from 2015 to 2019. Showing the importance of the food sector in achieving net zero targets, it finds that a 50% reduction in the UK’s food-related emissions by 2030 (compared to 2015) is possible, but only if urgent action is taken.

This report from Dutch NGO the Changing Markets Foundation argues that a lack of attention to reducing methane emissions puts the world at greater risk of reaching climate tipping points. It analyses the climate commitments of the 18 countries with the biggest meat and dairy industries, as well as the largest meat and dairy companies worldwide, and finds that neither governments nor corporations are taking sufficient action on cutting methane emissions.

This report from IDH, the sustainable trade initiative sets out lessons learned from the work of the Land Degradation Neutrality Fund, a tool for market investment in sustainable land management such as sustainable forestry, climate mitigation projects and payments for ecosystems services. The report includes case studies on hazelnut production in Bhutan, cocoa and coffee agroforestry in Nicaragua, and sustainable forestry landscapes in Ghana and Sierra Leone.

This report from the United Nations Environment Programme assesses the implications of cutting global methane emissions, including those from agriculture, fossil fuels and waste. It finds that reducing human-caused methane emissions by 45% this decade would avoid nearly 0.3°C of warming by the 2040s as well as have significant co-benefits in reducing premature deaths, asthma-related hospital visits and crop losses (related to ozone exposure, as methane promotes ground-level ozone formation) and work hours lost to extreme heat (related to climate change).

This rapid evidence review from CCAFS Low-Emissions Development assesses the performance of agroecological approaches in low- and middle- income countries. Based on over 10,000 studies, it finds that agroecological practices such as farm diversification, agroforestry and organic agriculture can help low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in both mitigating and adapting to climate change through their food systems.

This paper, co-authored by Table member Georg Andersson, evaluates the trade-offs between greenhouse gas emissions, calorie output and biodiversity for several farm types in Sweden. It finds that while no one farm type maximises on-farm performance for all categories simultaneously, there is potential to manage the trade-offs, for example by reducing the land used for dairy farming in favour of both cropping for food production and extensive livestock grazing.

The Sixth Carbon Budget from the UK’s Climate Change Committee sets out the UK’s permissible emissions between 2033 and 2037. Food-relevant recommendations include reducing consumption of meat and dairy by 20% by 2030, adopting low-carbon farming practices while raising productivity, and shifting some land use towards reforestation and bioenergy production.

On 16 November 2020, the LSHTM Centre on Climate Change & Planetary Health and food-sharing app OLIO hosted a discussion on the priority areas where change can contribute to a net zero future of food, such as tackling waste in the current food system and switching to healthy sustainable diets. A video recording of the event is now available.

This piece from Carbon Brief explains the UK’s Ten Point Plan for a “Green Industrial Revolution” and rounds up media coverage and reactions to each of the points.