{"id":9024,"date":"2022-03-28T09:00:51","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T08:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cbcsd.cz\/?p=9024"},"modified":"2022-04-13T13:05:24","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T11:05:24","slug":"a-common-destination-on-the-road-towards-the-true-value-of-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cbcsd.cz\/en\/a-common-destination-on-the-road-towards-the-true-value-of-food\/","title":{"rendered":"A common destination: On the road towards the true value of food"},"content":{"rendered":"

In January 2022, WBCSD, DSM, Impact Institute and Rabobank organized an online session to discuss the challenges and opportunities for the realization of a True Value of Food framework. The main outcomes of this fruitful and thought-provoking event were collected in this article by The Broker, which will be used to shape a concrete agenda and action plan for the road ahead. <\/strong><\/p>\n

At the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UN FSS) in 2021 the True Value of Food Initiative<\/a> was launched \u2013 a \u2018game changer\u2019 according to Stientje van Veldhoven, Vice President and Regional Director for Europe at the World Resources Institute (WRI). The Initiative is the result of a multi-stakeholder collaboration between the UN FSS Scientific Group, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Global Alliance for the Future of Food (GAFF), the World Benchmark Initiative, Fairtrade International, United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the Impact Institute and Rabobank.\u00a0Building on the momentum of this UN FSS, leveraging the World Economic Forum\u2019s Annual Meeting, and recognising that much remains to be learned about the science and practice of the True Value of Food, three of the initiators \u2013 the WBCSD, Impact Institute and Rabobank \u2013 together with DSM, organised an online session on the future of the True Value of Food. <\/em><\/p>\n

The session was originally planned as a live event in the context of the World Economic Forum\u2019s Annual meeting in Davos in January. Although the WEF meeting meeting was postponed to early summer 2022 due to COVID-19, the WBCSD, Impact Institute and Rabobank decided to host their event online. Bringing together the perspectives of producers, traders, consumers, banks and corporates, they hope to identify the next steps towards meeting the big tasks that lie ahead and continue the conversation live in Davos later this year.\u00a0Under the expert leadership of moderator Stientje van Veldhoven, speakers and participants representing the viewpoints of all relevant stakeholders, discuss the challenges and opportunities for the realisation of a True Value of Food framework. The main outcomes of this fruitful and thought-provoking event are collected in this article, which will be used to shape a concrete agenda and action plan for the road ahead.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>

A simple bar of chocolate<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As it is today, our food system is putting enormous pressure on people, societies and our planet. Estimates of the environmental and human health costs of our current food production and consumption are as high as USD 20 trillion. \u201cThis adds up to more than twice the value of present-day global food expenditure,\u201d Berry Marttin, Member of the Managing Board of Rabobank, notes. And these estimates do not even include the high social costs, such as child labour and unliveable wages, and other economic costs, such as food waste. Despite the knowledge that the current modus operandi<\/em> is untenable however, unhealthy and unsustainable food remains cheaper to buy and produce than healthy and sustainable food. \u201cThe price we pay as consumers rarely reflects the true costs [of food],\u201d explains Geraldine Matchett, Co-CEO and CFO at DSM and member of the company\u2019s Managing Board, explains. And the same holds true for the benefits of affordable food, Adrian de Groot Ruiz, Executive Director of the Impact Institute and co-founder of True Price, adds. \u201cAs profits are based on market prices, the profitability of a business does not reflect the value it creates to society,\u201d he explains. \u201cClearly, our global food system is broken.\u201d<\/p>\n

The defect in our food production and pricing system becomes very tangible when Hajar Yagkoubi, \u00a0former UN Youth Representative for the Netherlands, shares an all too familiar experience she had in her local supermarket. Trying to choose a chocolate-bar, she wanted to know the true cost and price of all the options before her. \u201cBut I was unable to,\u201d Yagkoubi shares, \u201cbecause food companies currently do not give the information we need.\u201d A simple bar of chocolate has hidden costs that are not accounted for in the price consumers pay in the supermarket. \u201cBut if I think about the environmental costs of [a bar of chocolate] they will be paid for eventually, whether we account for them or not. And if it is not through true pricing, then that bill will be paid for in the form of floods, [\u2026] draughts and other [detrimental] climate effects.\u201d As moderator Stientje van Veldhoven puts it: \u201cthere is no such thing as a free lunch\u201d.<\/p>\n

A simple bar of chocolate thus tells the story: if the true costs of food are not accounted for in the prices consumers pay or farmers receive, the bill will have to be paid in another way \u2013 by those communities that are already most vulnerable to the effect of climate change, and by the generations to come.<\/p>\n

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Impact of a Tony\u2019s Chocolate bar on the environment and society<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/a>

Together on the way forward<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Against the backdrop of the current situation in the food market, Berry Marttin poses two key questions that we have to tackle: \u201cHow can we make healthy and sustainable food cheaper and affordable for all? And how can we ensure production of healthy and sustainable food is profitable for producers?\u201d Finding answers to these questions is not only terribly urgent; it is also terribly challenging. What is needed, various speakers stress, is a complete rethinking and transforming of the global food system. But where to start? \u201cAt present\u201d, De Groot Ruiz points out, \u201cthe current food system creates massive hidden costs, outnumbering the global GDP of the food and health sectors combined.\u201d It is within these hidden costs that the beginnings of an answer to Marttin\u2019s questions can be found: We must make visible the true costs and benefits of food and ensure that they are reflected in the price that consumers pay. These costs and benefits \u2013 known as externalities \u2013 must be \u201cinternalised into profits and prices, so they reflect the true value of food to society,\u201d De Groot Ruiz argues. For this, Nestl\u00e9 Executive Vice President and Head of Operations Magdi Batato points to the importance of cross-sectoral collaboration to realise the True Value of Food system: \u201cAll actors in the food system \u2013 governments, producers, consumers, the financial sector \u2013 need to understand and account for externalities; with the same framing, same information and ultimately same incentives. Thus, they would be driving a system-wide change that enables us all to make the right trade-offs at each step of the way in our transition towards a sustainable and healthy food system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea that a sustainable, global food transformation demands alignment and concerted effort finds support among many participants and speakers, including Director General of Consumers International Helena Leurent. \u201cThe True Value [system] has the potential to unlock food systems transformation on a global scale, but only if it builds from a foundational recognition of the universal right to healthy, affordable food. Value, rather than price, could become the driving force behind international trade regulations, government policies, and responsible business practices, facilitating food systems change without putting an unfair burden on consumers.\u201d However, for this to work, Leurent continues, \u201c[we need] an internationally accepted and independently regulated framework [that] incorporates environmental, social, and economic costs to people and planet\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAll business shall be healthy and sustainable or there shall be no business. Healthy sustainable foods should become the new normal<\/strong>.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 <\/em>\u00a0Berry Marttin, Member of the Managing Board of Rabobank<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/a>

Challenges and policy<\/strong><\/h3>\n

True Value may be a promising way forward to achieve the envisioned transformation, but the journey must be handled with care as serious obstacles will be met along the way. When considering the implementation of True Value, Helena Leurent stresses it is important to realise that \u201crising prices will always hit the poorest consumers hardest. With the FAO reporting that some three billion consumers were unable to afford a healthy diet in 2021, we have long since exceeded any margin for error on this front. Price adjustments must be approached with caution, and should be understood as just one element in the toolkit of True Value\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the potentially negative impacts on poorer consumers, transition costs for farmers must also be taken into account. To make progress on the path laid out before us, inclusion of and collaboration with these farmers is indispensable. \u201c[They] are key to improving the environmental impact of food\u201d, Magdi Batato argues, noting their central role in Nestl\u00e9\u2019s recently announced plans to accelerate the transition to a regenerative food system. Similarly, and speaking on behalf of these farmers, president of the World Farmers\u2019 Organisation Theo de Jager, underlines that farmers are not unwilling to embark on the journey towards True Pricing. \u201cBut back on the farm not all food is produced in the same way, in the same markets,\u201d he shares. \u201cThere is a huge gap between the market that cannot afford nutritious food and the demands of the consumers in the markets of the global north.\u201d It thus follows that a one-size-fits all solution will not work. And yet, at the same time, there is a strong push for alignment and harmonisation of frameworks. A lack of harmonised criteria, data, benchmarking, standard setting and measurement methodologies may be one of the major challenges on the road towards True Value. Many initiatives and frameworks do exist, but without their alignment it will be difficult to realise a transformation on a global scale. \u201cThere is, for example, no full alignment on how to measure food nutrition,\u201d Magdi Batato points out, referring to the great variety of schemes including the EU Nutri-Score and Australia\u2019s Health Star Rating System, among others. \u201cWe need to acknowledge that we do not have all the information we need just yet,\u201d Batato adds. And thus, finding a robust methodology that incorporates the differences between markets as well as differences between businesses and sectors is an obstacle that remains to be tackled.<\/p>\n

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Gen Z Calling<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Hajar Yagkoubi, former UN Youth Representative for the Netherlands, speaks on behalf of Generation Z, the generation that will make up almost a third of the global workforce in three years\u2019 time. Generation Z is also known as the True Gen, because, Yagkoubi explains, \u201cmore than any other generation, we want truth and transparency in our consumption\u201d. For Generation Z, consumption has become a means to express their values and identity. They care where their products come from, what impact their consumption has on the planet.<\/p>\n

As the young people of Gen Z are the leaders of tomorrow, this awareness of consumption impact sparks hope for the realisation of a sustainable food system. However, steps must be taken now, or else even Hajar Yagkoubi and her ambitious peers will not be able to turn the tide. Therefore, Yagkoubi calls on all participants of the online session to step up their game and:<\/p>\n

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