The EU food and drink industry has published its vision for 2030, setting out its commitments for the next two decades. As far as I can see there are no tangible targets as regards emission reduction and so forth. What it says instead is as follows:
FoodDrinkEurope will continue to actively engage in the European Food Sustainable Consumption and Production Round Table to promote the harmonisation of environmental assessment methodologies for food and drink products, facilitate the communication of environmental performance along the food chain, including to consumers, and identify priority research programmes and opportunities for technical innovation to support continuous environmental improvement along the supply chain.
Sustainable sourcing: The industry will work with stakeholders, most notably, food chain partners, to mainstream sustainable sourcing by establishing guiding principles for sustainable sourcing, encouraging harmonisation and extending the coverage of certification schemes, facilitating sustainable sourcing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and providing assistance to farmers for the uptake of sustainable sourcing.
Resource efficiency: Reconciling agendas, such as the use of food crop-based fuels and other industrial uses of agricultural raw materials, is a key challenge at a time of population growth. The industry will engage with policymakers, food chain partners and other stakeholders to move towards an integrated approach with particular attention on the availability of agricultural raw materials for the production of food and feed. The industry will continue to facilitate exchange of best practices among operators, particularly among SMEs. The industry will promote closed loop supply chains and work with supply chain partners to improve environmental impacts along the chain. The industry will encourage a common research and innovation agenda to develop solutions to key environmental hotspots in our operations. Hotspots shall be addressed at the most appropriate level (e.g. European, sectoral, local, sub-sectoral, company level). The industry will initiate a food chain approach to address water impacts and support the development of a common water toolkit. The industry will work with food chain and other stakeholders, policymakers, retailers and consumer organisations, to reduce and, where possible, avoid food waste along the food chain.
Sustainable consumption: The industry will look beyond consumer information and engage with government and stakeholders to facilitate increased awareness and public debate on sustainable consumption. The industry will engage with retailers and other stakeholders to inform consumers about the impact of their diet on sustainability and how it relates to their lifestyle.
You can read the press release and download the report here.
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