Envisioning the Future of Food

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has developed a comprehensive research piece around the future of food. The research explores the pressures, trends and influences determining how people are experiencing their food today and forms the basis for a Future of Food “Lighthouse”, a simple, shared, inspiring vision of a future of food that leads to a happier, healthier (and more sustainable) lifestyle. The Lighthouse highlights people’s needs and wants from their lifestyles (today, tomorrow, in five years, in 15 years), and identifies spaces in which innovation needs to occur to be able to deliver this vision. It is designed to help companies uncover new opportunities to offer people healthier, more appealing and sustainable nutrition. This Future of Food Lighthouse will drive rich conversations among companies’ R&D, Innovation, Insights, Marketing, Brand Strategy and Public Affairs functions. The Lighthouse is part of WBCSD’s work in the area of Sustainable Lifestyles, which seeks to understand the world that we need to create — technically, practically and emotionally — to enable and inspire more sustainable lifestyles. Our Sustainable Lifestyles work supports and complements the WBCSD Food, Land and Water program, especially the Food Reform for Sustainability and Health (FReSH) project, that has brought together a coalition of leading companies to tackle the challenges within the food system, from fork to farm. The unique approach of the Lifestyles work, is to look at food-related challenges using the individual, rather than the system, as the starting point. This provides companies with a complementary view of the food landscape that is both positive and customer-centric.