Transcript Developments in the global food supply chain

Getting people to change:
drivers and motivators of behaviour
Tara Garnett
Food Climate Research Network - University of Surrey
HDC/STC 19 April 2010
Three questions to explore
• What sort of change do we actually want & why?
– (Focus on climate change)
• What shapes the way people buy and eat now?
• How might change be achieved?
Presentation outline
1. Setting the scene: food chain’s contribution to GHG
emissions
2. What part do fruit and veg play?
3. What are the GHG implications of trends in fruit & veg
consumption?
4. What might a healthy sustainable diet look like?
Role of fruit and veg in this?
5. What shapes our consumption habits and what are
our attitudes to consuming more sustainably?
6. Drivers of change: making change happen
7. A bit about the FCRN
1. Food and its contribution to
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
Food GHG impacts by life cycle stage - UK
Catering
6%
Main gases:
methane,
nitrous oxide,
carbon dioxide
Home food
related
10%
Waste disposal
1%
Retail
7%
Agriculture
40%
Food
consumption
accounts for
19% of the
UK’s GHG
emissions
Transport
12%
Packaging
7%
Food
manufacturing
12%
Fertiliser
manufacture
5%
2. Impacts by food types
• Meat and dairy – about 8.5% (production only)
• Fruit and veg - about 2.5% (production through to
consumption
• Alcoholic drinks – about 1.5% (production through to
consumption)
• This is of the UK’s TOTAL GHG emissions
Contribution of food groups to Dutch
GHG emissions KG/CO2e
Klaas Jan Kramer, Henri C Moll, Sanderine Nonhebel,
Harry C Wilting, Greenhouse gas emissions related to
Dutch food consumption, Energy Policy 27 (1999)
203-216, Elsevier Publications
Dairy, 22.9
Other food
products, 3
Bread,
pastry &
flour, 13.3
Potatoes,
fruit & veg,
14.6
Oils & fats,
3
Meat, meat
products &
fish, 28.2
Beverages
& products
containing
sugar, 14.9
3. Trends in fruit & veg consumption:
GHG implications
• Fruit and veg emissions aren’t huge but trends suggest
consumption is becoming more GHG intensive
• High impact:
–
–
–
–
air freighted (beans, berries & cherries)
Unseasonal/protected (ratatouille veg)
Pre-prepared (chopped fruit, salads etc)
Perishable/squashable (berries, pre-prepared)
• Low impact: field grown/seasonal; shipped; robust
(roots, brassicas, tubers)
The
ones
we
like
If we ate more fruit and veg would
overall emissions go up or down?
• Depends what they replace: Meat? Bread?
Chocolate?
• Depends which produce we choose:
Blueberries or apples? French beans or
cabbage?
4. What might a low impact diet
look like?
NB: focus here on GHGs – but other
issues eg. fish, water, development,
rural economies etc. important too
What might a low GHG diet look like?
• Not overeating (but...)
• Much less meat and dairy
• Seasonal indigenous field-grown foods
– (not always possible)
•
•
•
•
•
Not eating certain foods (but...)
Reducing dependence on cold chain (but...)
Wasting less (systemic issues...)
Efficient cooking
Redefining quality
Broadly
compatible
with
healthy
eating
goals
• Curbing trends as much as making changes – ie. reassess
expansion of unsustainable trends e.g. air freight or refrigeration
dependent supply chains; curb trends in m&d consumption
Specifically for fruit and veg – this
is difficult!
Need to consider:
a. What kind of fruit & veg to buy
b. How to store and cook them
c. Waste
d. Other issues: water use, peat, pesticides, local
communities and international development
a. What to buy
• Food miles issue complicated: need to
consider:
• Distance, mode, efficiency of transport
• Production stage emissions
• Refrigerated storage
• Future action (ie. what if the UK’s protected
crops sector decided to go carbon neutral?)
GWP t CO2-eqv./t
UK Overseas
Tomatoes, UK vs Spain
2.2
0.7
Strawberries, UK vs Spain
1.0
0.9
Potatoes, UK vs Israel
0.3
0.5
Poultry, UK vs Brazil
2.8
2.6
24.0
32.2
0.3
0.9
14.1
11.6
Beef, UK vs Brazil
Apples, UK vs New Zealand
Lamb, UK vs New Zealand
Source: Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Food Commodities Procured
for UK Consumption through a Diversity of Supply Chains, Defra project
FO0103, 2008
Lettuce – seasonally variable
Edwards-Jones, G., et al., Vulnerability of exporting nations to the development of a carbon label in the
United Kingdom. Environ. Sci. Policy (2008
Air freight impacts dominate
Air freight
Source: Sim S, Barry M, Clift R, Cowell SJ (2007):
The Relative Importance of Transport in
Determining an Appropriate Sustainability Strategy
for Food Sourcing. Int J LCA 12 (6) 422–431
How to store and cook
• Complex relationship between refrigeration
and waste:
– Fridge as waste saver
– Fridge as black hole
– Refrigeration dependence – shapes consumption
• Cooking can be significant overall contributor
to life cycle of food – eg. baked potatoes;
‘roast a single head of garlic for 30 minutes’
Waste
• Household food waste 65% food waste in
supply chain (WRAP 2010);
• Wasted food represents a waste of all the
emissions generated during the course of
producing it
• Household food waste equivalent to 26
MTCO2eq of which 20 MTCO2eq is food waste
(ie not packaging)
• 40% avoidable food waste is fruit & veg
Other issues – lots of them
Two examples:
• Poverty and international development:
– 1-1.5 mill people dependent on export horticulture in SSA
(up to 120,000 directly employed)
• Water – Spain tomatoes grown in very water
stressed areas
General advice given on
fruit & vegetables
• Defra: Buy local and in season
– Real value or ‘way in’ to thinking about
environment?
• FEC recommendations: Local and in season as
outcome rather than goal of sustainability
• More variability of supply – less waste, less
need for imports to meet year round demand
or certain specifications
5. What shapes our food
behaviour and how do we feel
about consuming more
sustainably?
Life is complicated and
food is a complex part of life
Nurture
Guilt
Entertainment
Neurosis
Pleasure
Need
Ritual
Food
Habit
Social glue
Satisfaction
Love
Status
Power
Comfort
Bribery
Religious significance
Time-pass
Influenced by wider forces
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Price / affordability
Availability
Time – work / ‘stressed leisure’ syndrome
Culture, social & family expectations, norms, aspirations
Knowledge, information, fashions & beliefs (education, media,
marketing)
Demographic changes: ageing population, single person
society, wealth
Technological changes
Season
Tastes
• HABIT
HABIT !
Influences
on food
choice
Source: Food and health in
Europe: a new basis for action,
WHO Regional Publications
European Series, No. 96,
World Health Organisation,
Geneva, 2004
General conclusions from the
literature (1)*
• People are ‘locked-in to their behaviours because of the
social, economic and cultural context within which they
operate – the context therefore needs to change
• Price, taste, appearance very important
• People don’t really look at labels or only the bits they’re
interested in
• Environmental considerations not a motivator for
behaviour for many
• * work of Tim Jackson for SDC, recent Defra synthesis review EV0510; review
of labelling by FSA, Opinion Leader Research/Brook Lynhurst and masses more
General conclusions from the
literature (2)
• People are well disposed to the idea of local if it is
seen to offer something that mainstream doesn’t;
not so sure what seasonal is
• Grow your own becoming more popular esp among
25-44 yr olds
• Health considered by some a way in to
environmental thinking – but getting people to eat
healthily for their own self interest is hard enough!
• Local considered more important than organic
• What people say is not what they do...
But things can change:
• EG. free range and the Hugh/Jamie effect
• Since March last year: £55.2 million increase
in spend on Freedom Food labelled chicken
(from £16.4 million to £71.6 million)
• More than 26 million drop for standard
chicken
6. What are the implications if we
want to change behaviour?
• What behaviour change do we want?
– More fruit and veg but of a less GHG intensive type
(generally more seasonal & indigenous)
– More acceptance of non-availability; cosmetic
variability
– People to eat what they buy
– Less meat and dairy
• Advice, info and handy leaflets aren’t going to do
the job
• No single magic solution
Structural change is needed
• Fruit and veg needs to be affordable
• Less GHG-intensive produce needs to be heavily
promoted through price, availability, marketing
• Major role for public procurement; restaurant and
catering sectors
• Re-learning and re-skilling: cooking and eating in schools
vital
• Habits & norms need to change: role of government,
industry, media, NGOs, workplaces and schools
7. About the FCRN
Funded by one of the UK research councils
Based at Surrey University
Focuses on:
• Researching food chain contribution to GHG
emissions and options for emissions reduction
– technology, behaviour, policy
• Sharing and communicating information on
food & climate change with member network
FCRN outputs
•
Five comprehensive in-house studies so far:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Fruit & vegetables
Alcoholic drinks
Food refrigeration
Meat & dairy
Synthesis paper
• One commissioned study
• All at www.fcrn.org.uk
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Comprehensive website: see www.fcrn.org.uk
@80,000 web hits
Working seminars: To inform research
Networking: To catalyse further research
Mailings: emails sent 2x weekly to 1600+
members (all sectors, all disciplines, UK &
abroad)
Open to all – please join
Thank you
Tara Garnett
[email protected]
www.fcrn.org.uk
Food Climate Research Network