“Let’s meet in the middle: How the central stages of the food value chain shape the way we produce and consume”.

Last week, the One Planet network hosted the webinar “Let’s meet in the middle: How the central stages of the food value chain shape the way we produce and consume”, attended by around 200 people. It followed the release of the report “Catalysing science-based policy action on sustainable consumption and production: the value-chain approach and its application to food, construction and textiles" by the One Planet network - International Resource Panel Task Group and precedes a series of consultations that will be undertaken across the food, construction and textile sectors (as highlighted in the report).

The food sector consultations will begin in early April with the aim of identifying innovative business and policy solutions with the participation of experts to focus on all the different stages of the value chain. An especially relevant finding from this report for the consultations is that while in the food value chain the most significant resource use and environmental impacts take place at the production stage, most of the transformative power along the value chain is found in its middle stages. These shape to a large degree what farmers produce and sell, and what consumers buy and eat.

This webinar explored this finding and provided examples from across the One Planet network and beyond. Both private and public sector examples illustrated how those middle stages in the value chain – transport, processing, distribution, retail – can have a significant impact both at the production stages at one end and consumption habits at the other, and in turn, reduce environmental impacts and natural resource use.

The webinar was introduced by Ms Martina Fleckenstein, Global Policy Manager Food at WWF, who presented the main findings of the value-chain report. The event continued with a presentation by Ms Marianne Gjørv, Senior Advisor at the Norwegian Environment Agency, who discussed the work of the Norwegian government to address food waste across all stages of the value chain.

In 2017 the Norwegian Government and the food industry signed an agreement to reduce food waste in Norway by 50% by 2030. The agreement involves primary producers and consumers, as well as food manufacturers, restaurants, and supermarket chains. “We need to pay attention to the whole food value chain”, Ms Gjørv stressed.

Ms Scarlette Elizée, Sustainability Outreach Lead at Carrefour, discussed the power of big businesses to promote change in the middle stages of the value chain and the work of Carrefour to take action at each step of the value chain to provide healthy, sustainable and accessible food to everyone.

“We need to work together to achieve our ambitions because we are all working towards the same goals,” Ms Elizée said. “We need to create transformational change to really address the challenges that are facing our food systems”.

Ms Agnès Weil, Director of Sustainability and Philanthropy at Club Med talked about the importance of creating local networks along the value chain in the tourism sector. She discussed how Club Med has applied this approach in Senegal, Brazil, Indonesia, China, Mauritius, and Morocco to empower farmers as well as have locally produced, healthy products more widely available for hospitality businesses.

“This helps break down silos between value chain actors and create links between producers and consumers,” Ms Weil said.

The webinar reflected the importance of having to consider all parts of the value chain to reduce natural resource use and environmental impacts. In the case of the food value chain, the speakers’ examples clarified the need to consider and analyse the role of food companies, farmers and fishers and individual consumers along the value chain.

This webinar is the first in a series throughout 2021 which will focus on a particular theme or message of the One Planet network. In March this message centres around the recently released value chain report and the real-world examples from the One Planet network which can help to demonstrate some of its main conclusions. Stay tuned for webinars each month which will tackle a new theme, while staying connected to the science around natural resource use and environmental impacts.

Read the full report from the One Planet Network and the International Resource Panel, “Catalysing science-based policy action on Sustainable Consumption and Production: The Value Chain Approach & its application to food, construction and textiles" 

Learn more about the Norwegian government's 2017 food waste agreement

Learn more about Club Med's initiative in the tourism sector