This report presents findings based on an interdisciplinary systems level scenario approach designed specifically to address complex societal problems. The project was funded by the Sustainable Consumption Institute to explore how the UK food system may develop and change in response to futures bounded by more or less extreme climate impacts and emission cuts. The UK is taken as a case study to explore suites of possible futures that address adaptation, mitigation and demand.

In a paper in PLOS One, researcher Gregory Okin suggests that the diets of carnivorous pets, like cats and dogs, have a significant impact on climate change. He estimates that in the U.S. alone, cats and dogs are responsible for 25-30 percent of the environmental impact of meat consumption in the country. In the U.S. there are 163 million cats and dogs, which together eat as much food as all the people in France. Okin found that to feed these animals the US releases 64 million tons of CO2.

'Virtuous Circles: Values, Systems and Sustainability’, a recently published book by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), articulates an alternative future in which food, energy and water supplies are sustainable and in the control of local communities.  It focuses on local communities as the driver of alternative means of designing resilient food systems.

In June 2011, Arla Foods launched its Global Environmental Strategy 2020, which maps the entire environmental impact of its dairy products and includes a pledge to reduce global CO2 emissions by 25% by 2020 within the areas of production, haulage and packaging.

The December edition of the journal Nutrition Bulletin, published by the British Nutrition Foundation, examines the complex nutrition and health factors associated with the challenge of achieving a sustainable and secure food supply.

This new book, published by Earthscan, provides a critical assessment of the contemporary global food system in light of the heightening food crisis, as evidence of its failure to achieve food security for the world's population.

Timed to coincide with the UN climate convention negotiations in South Africa, this study by UNEP argues that the world has the technological and economic solutions to avert climate change.