True Cost Accounting – Sustainability

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Sustainable Food Systems Network (EUFIC)

European Food Information Council (EUFIC)‘s Global Sustainable Food Systems Network facilitates communication and collaboration amongst stakeholders in sustainable food systems (SFS) across the globe. In this community, you will find policy makers, business professionals, civil society organizations, researchers, NGOs/non-profit organizations, funding agencies and interested citizens. The network allows members to:

Add to and use the resources section
Reach out to members through the chat in a field/topic you are interested in. Network, ask questions, build bridges. Chat conversations are private and confidential!
Publish about events you are organizing regarding SFS (on average, 30-120 members attend events shared in the feed!)
Peruse the calendar of events shared by other members.
Share calls, documents, reports, papers, etc. that you think are interesting for the whole community.
Ask the community for feedback and start a conversation, e.g. by creating a poll!
Share job openings as “opportunities”. The network currently spans 2000+ people, and their personal networks spread much further.

The SFSN Community leaders send a biweekly newsletter with featured shared events, opportunities, posts, and new members for further dissemination.

If you have any feedback, questions or would like to get more involved, email sfsn@eufic.org or contact us directly through the chat (search Community Managers).

Measurement of diets that are healthy, environmentally sustainable, affordable, and equitable: A scoping review of metrics, findings, and research gaps (2023 Apr)

Citation: Webb P, Livingston Staffier K, Lee H, Howell B, Battaglia K, Bell BM, Matteson J, McKeown NM, Cash SB, Zhang FF, Decker Sparks JL and Blackstone NT (2023) Measurement of diets that are healthy, environmentally sustainable, affordable, and equitable: A scoping review of metrics, findings, and research gaps. Front. Nutr. 10:1125955. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1125955

Introduction: Research on the impacts of dietary patterns on human and planetary health is a rapidly growing field. A wide range of metrics, datasets, and analytical techniques has been used to explore the role of dietary choices/constraints in driving greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, environmental degradation, health and disease outcomes, and the affordability of food baskets. Many argue that each domain is important, but few have tackled all simultaneously in analyzing diet-outcome relationships.

Methods: This paper reviews studies published between January 2015 and December 2021 (inclusive) that examined dietary patterns in relation to at least two of the following four thematic pillars: (i) planetary health, including, climate change, environmental quality, and natural resource impacts, (ii) human health and disease, (iii) economic outcomes, including diet cost/affordability, and (iv) social outcomes, e.g., wages, working conditions, and culturally relevant diets. We systematically screened 2,425 publications by title and abstract and included data from 42 eligible publications in this review.

Results: Most dietary patterns used were statistically estimated or simulated rather than observed. A rising number of studies consider the cost/affordability of dietary scenarios in relation to optimized environmental and health outcomes. However, only six publications incorporate social sustainability outcomes, which represents an under-explored dimension of food system concerns.

Discussion: This review suggests a need for (i) transparency and clarity in datasets used and analytical methods; (ii) explicit integration of indicators and metrics linking social and economic issues to the commonly assessed diet-climate-planetary ecology relationships; (iii) inclusion of data and researchers from low- and middle-income countries; (iv) inclusion of processed food products to reflect the reality of consumer choices globally; and (v) attention to the implications of findings for policymakers. Better understanding is urgently needed on dietary impacts on all relevant human and planetary domains simultaneously.

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2023.1125955/full#supplementary-material

*Correspondence: Patrick Webb, patrick.webb@tufts.edu

The Food Sustainability Index (FSI) as an Educational Tool (2016)

Food systems are at the heart of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Food Sustainability Index (FSI), now in its fourth iteration, has been developed by Economist Impact with the support of the Fondazione Barilla. The FSI examines how food systems are performing across three pillars: food loss and waste, sustainable agriculture, and nutritional challenges. Its 38 indicators and 95 sub-indicators address societal, environmental and economic themes in 78 countries. Discover data and make detailed comparisons by region, income group, country, index pillar or indicator. Deep dive into country profiles, rankings and correlations.

This resource was created as a transparent, diverse and evidence-based learning module. The FSI has an intended audience of university students and graduate students, but can be used for anyone who interested in learning more about the connection of food and nutrition to sustainable food systems and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The first edition of the FSI was published in 2016 and ranked the food sustainability of 25 countries. In 2017 this was expanded to 34 countries, followed by 67 countries in 2018. The 2021 Index examines the food systems of 78 countries, using 95 individual metrics across three key pillars: food loss and waste, Sustainable agriculture, and nutritional challenges. The Index now covers more than 92% of global GDP and 92% of the global population.