This paper estimates the environmental impacts (across four impact categories) of over 57,000 food products (found in the UK and Ireland) composed of multiple ingredients, filling a knowledge gap since previous analyses (such as Poore and Nemecek) compare only single foods. It also examines the relationship between the environmental impacts and nutritional characteristics of the products, concluding that more nutritious products are often (but not always) more sustainable as well. The study is co-authored by several members of Oxford’s Livestock, Environment and People (LEAP) programme.

This paper, co-authored by TABLE research director Elin Röös, sets out five storylines for the development of agroecology in the European Union and models the impacts of each scenario on progress towards several established or proposed policy targets. It finds that significant dietary change and waste reduction are necessary if agroecological farming is to contribute to meeting the policy goals.

This paper sets out the case for a sugar tax, arguing that it can achieve both health and climate goals. It analyses the greenhouse gas savings of three different approaches that could follow a 75.5% reduction in sugar consumption in the European Union (to align with World Health Organisation guidelines): afforesting excess EU sugar beet farmland; using excess sugar beet grown in the EU for biofuel; and the EU exporting sugar from its own sugar beet production, thus displacing Brazilian sugar consumption on the global market, and importing an equivalent amount of sugar cane ethanol from Brazil to use as biofuel.

A free trade agreement currently being negotiated between the UK and India could weaken pesticide standards in the UK and could also place UK farmers under pressure from cheaper imports, according to this report from Pesticide Action Network UK, Sustain Alliance and trade expert Dr Emily Lydgate.

This report from the UK Changing Markets Foundation investigates the impacts of krill fishing in the Antarctic. Krill - tiny crustaceans that are near the base of many marine food chains - are caught for use in omega-3 dietary supplements and as feed for aquaculture. In light of krill fish’s impacts on fragile ecosystems, the report calls for an immediate moratorium on krill fishing; for retailers to phase out the use of wild-caught fish, including krill, for aquaculture; for retailers to stop selling krill dietary supplements; and for consumers to stop using krill supplements and to demand krill-free seafood.

This report by The Food Foundation sets out the state of the UK’s food system, covering the areas of food affordability, availability and appeal. Headline findings include: the poorest fifth of households would need to spend 47% of their disposable income to afford the Government’s recommended healthy diet, compared to 11% for the richest fifth; a greater proportion (22%) of workers in the food system earn minimum wage or less, compared to 8% across the whole UK; healthier foods are nearly three times more expensive per calorie than less healthy foods; and plant-based milks are on average 60% more expensive than dairy milk.