The Commission has identified food as one of three key sectors for achieving a circular low-carbon economy in its Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe’ (COM (2011) 571). A subsequent public consultation in 2013 helped identify effective policy solutions. This fed into a draft strategy for ‘Building a sustainable European food system’ in 2014, but the corresponding communication has still to be adopted. “Without it, the development of a clear policy on how to build a sustainable food system is held back,” explains Duncan Williamson, Food Policy Manager of WWF-UK, the project’s coordinating beneficiary, who would like to see the publication of the communication as soon as possible.
“The call to action arose from the LIFE project’s final conference in Brussels,” says Jane Wallace-Jones, Project Manager of LiveWell for LIFE; adding that, “between the conference, on 11 December 2014, and its March submission, 32 organisations had signed the document: 9 at the conference and 23 after it.” Signatories include members of the European Parliament, a wide range of civil society organisations, and major food sector companies. The initiative says that the social, environmental and economic case for EU policy action on sustainable food production and consumption is clear, and invites European food stakeholders to join together to help deliver strategic guidance in support of such action.
The LiveWell for LIFE project, which concluded on 31 March 2015, aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) arising from the EU food supply chain, by demonstrating sustainable diets for EU Member States and by promoting a supportive policy environment. The project used a visual communications tool, the LiveWell Plate, to illustrate sample diets in three EU countries. The project showed how relatively small changes in diet could help lower GHG emissions, contribute to healthier populations, and reduce food waste.
Tony Long of the WWF European Policy Office explains, “two of the biggest findings of the LiveWell for LIFE project are that to build a truly sustainable food system in Europe, more coherent policy is needed between Member State and EU level, and that existing EU policies could better work together to address today’s interrelated food challenges.”. More information about the project is available from the LiveWell for LIFE website.
Source: The LiveWell for LIFE