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Includes food security, including access to nutritious, healthy, affordable, and culturally and/or religiously appropriate foods; and food safety, including production, handling, distribution, and storage, antimicrobial resistance, and hormones.
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This report can help you to better understand the impact food systems have in driving transgressions of planetary boundaries, as well as the multi-dimensional and underlying issues of food justice. It presents new evidence-based insights on nutrition and human health within safe and just planetary boundaries, new research and extensive modelling insights, and transformative and action-based recommendations and roadmaps.
The report explains that food systems currently account for roughly 30% of total greenhouse gas emissions globally; that fewer than 1% of the world’s population is currently in the ‘safe and just space’, where people’s rights and food needs are met within planetary boundaries; and that the wealthiest 30% of people drive more than 70% of food-related environmental impacts. Compared to the 2019 edition, this report explains how five of the seven breached planetary boundaries are linked to food systems, and how transforming production and adopting a "planetary health diet" can help halve food-related climate emissions and prevent millions of deaths. It sets scientific targets for healthy diets, food’s impact on planetary boundaries, and outlines the foundation for a just food system – and shows how far different parts of the world are from these targets. The Commission also outlines eight potential solutions aimed at advancing health, environmental, and justice goals.
This report from the EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health explains the transformative changes that we must pursue as a global society to provide a healthy diet to a near-future population of 10 billion people. It highlights the shifts in eating habits and the advancements in food production and waste reduction that must be achieved to provide a healthy diet for all, and all within planetary boundaries. This report is the first full scientific review of what constitutes a healthy diet from a sustainable food system, and is a good source of information for helping you to understand the actions that can support and accelerate food system transformation.
This comprehensive guide from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations presents the first global assessment of biodiversity for food and agriculture worldwide. The report draws on information from 91 country reports to provide a description of the roles and importance of biodiversity for food and agriculture, the drivers of change affecting it, and its current status and trends. It describes the state of efforts to promote the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity for food and agriculture, including through the development of supporting policies, legal frameworks, institutions and capacities. It also explains the needs and challenges of future management of biodiversity for food and agriculture. This resource is an excellent starting point for change agents to build their awareness and understanding of the vital importance of biodiversity to global food systems.
Developed by the Economist Impact and Fondazione Barilla, the Food Sustainability Index (FSI) can help you understand the sustainability challenges of food systems at a national level. The FSI accounts for 78 countries, covering 92% of the global population, and focuses on three main topics: food loss and waste, sustainable agriculture, and nutritional challenges. The FSI also features a set of policy-based actions for improving food systems around the world. The focus on governmental policy makes this report especially relevant to public affairs departments that can help advocate for aligning policy with relevant governments.
The Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) can help you to better understand food and nutrition crises at the global, regional, and country level. It examines acute food insecurity, malnutrition, and forced displacement, including key findings, drivers, data on magnitude and trends of each topic, and more. This resource will be particularly beneficial to those who want a snapshot of food insecurity, nutrition, and displacement conditions in the areas where they and their value chain members operate.
This article from the Guardian explains how many of our favourite foods - and the systems which allow them to flourish - are increasingly threatened by the climate crisis. It highlights how agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and aquaculture are all buckling under the stress of rising temperatures, wildfires, droughts, and floods, and how resilient food systems depend on cultivating and consuming a wide variety of genetically diverse foods. This compelling resource can help you to understand the recent trends in global diets and food species selection, and how communities and industry need to advance the diversity of our crops to prevent near-future food systems collapse.
This resource from Second Harvest explains how nearly 9 million metric tonnes of food is lost or wasted by the food industry in Canada each year. The report uses field-to-fork life cycle analysis to show how - and why - food loss and waste occur. This is a good starting point for building awareness around the magnitude of food waste, regardless of geographic context; for understanding the differences between avoidable and unavoidable waste; and for understanding the kinds of immediate and long-term solutions that should be pursued to reduce food loss and food waste.
This report from Second Harvest explores food loss and waste across the industrial spectrum in Canada. It can help you to understand the causes and scale of the problem, the implications and opportunities for communities and business, and solutions for positive change that can be amplified.
Although the information here is centered around the Canadian context, many of the recommendations and insights are applicable regardless of geography.
Billions of people benefit daily from the use of wild species for food, energy, materials, medicine, recreation, inspiration, and more. 50,000 wild species meet the needs of billions of people worldwide, and more than 10,000 wild species are directly harvested for food. This report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) can help you to understand how the global biodiversity crisis threatens the contributions of these species to humanity, and provides insights, analysis, and tools to establish more sustainable use of wild species of plants, animals, fungi, and algae around the world.
This report identifies five broad categories of ‘practices’ in the use of wild species: fishing; gathering; logging; terrestrial animal harvesting (including hunting); and non-extractive practices, such as observing. For each practice, it then examines specific ‘uses’ for these materials; identifies trends and drivers of change; explores policies, practices, and tools to effect positive change; and examines a range of possible future scenarios for the use of wild species.
This report from EAT can help you understand what is needed to transition the global food system from a net source to a net sink of GHG emissions. It highlights the important role food systems play in aligning with planetary boundaries; the need for G20 countries to drastically change their food consumption patterns; the dual benefits of more sustainable foods also being healthier; and the opportunity to rethink dietary guidelines as a lever for change. This report will be especially useful to public affairs and communications teams, as well as decision-makers and change agents working in food value chains.
This white paper from the World Wildlife Fund can help you understand how the production and consumption of animal-sourced foods can be reformed to increase agricultural and community resilience and align with a 1.5°C future. It encourages collective action across four solutions areas: responsible sourcing, regenerative agriculture, circular ingredients, and feeding innovations. The insights presented will be especially useful to supply chain managers and business development teams working in the agriculture sector.
This detailed report from Planet Tracker can help you understand the finance sector’s critical role in transforming the global food system - a transformation that is necessary for humanity to align with planetary boundaries and for financial institutions to meet their Net Zero ambitions. The first half of the report discusses the relationship between the finance sector and the food system’s harmful planetary impacts, and the second half focuses on how financial institutions can drive this transformation. The report sets out four food system transformation themes for aligning investment strategy with food systems change, and outlines six priority actions for financial institutions to get started on. This resource will be most useful to sustainability professionals working in the finance sector.
This annual global assessment of food security from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) can help you understand the major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition. The report's four key topic areas span chapters 1-4. Chapter 1 introduces the challenge of tackling food price inflation to achieve zero hunger; chapter 2 explains the state of food security and nutrition around the world; chapter 3 explains the recent price inflation surge, including causes and consequences for food security and nutrition; and chapter 4 explores fiscal, monetary, and trade policies and their implications for food security and nutrition. This assessment will be most useful to sustainability practitioners working in the agrifood sector.
This report from the Good Food Finance Network, Tufts University, and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) can help you understand what the finance sector must do to support more sustainable agrifood systems. It paints a picture of the agrifood system crisis we face. and explains why system transformation is needed. It explains how this change will require new thinking that looks beyond shareholder returns to also value returns to society, and highlights a diversity of solutions needed to address complexity of this problem. It also features case studies and outlines clear calls to action along with examples for policy-makers, financiers, and businesses. These insights will be most useful to asset managers, supply chains managers, and finance teams whose organisations are involved in the agrifood sector.
This detailed and annual report from the FAO can help you understand important issues in the field of food and agriculture. Each edition of the report provides a comprehensive overview of selected topics of major relevance for rural and agriculture development and global food security. The 2025 edition focuses on land degradation – a growing threat to agricultural productivity, food security and ecosystem resilience. It examines the implications of human-induced land degradation for agricultural production, producers of all scales, and vulnerable populations. The report explores trends and challenges in agricultural land use; explains land degradation and the causes, effects, and responses to it; foundations for sustainability managing land for agricultural production, including policymaking that encompasses regulatory and incentives-based measures; and more. These insights will be most useful to sustainability practitioners and decision-makers seeking evidence to support sustainable agrifood systems.
This pair of reports from the Food and Land Use Coalition, We Mean Business Coalition, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) can help you understand what food sector companies can do to prepare for the sustainability transition. The first report focuses on how companies can use climate- and nature-related voluntary frameworks and standards to prepare for future regulation, and the other focuses on how to estimate the financial implications of the sustainability transition across the value chain and how to fairly manage the burden of change. This guidance will be most useful to sustainability, supply chain, legal, and finance teams in the food sector, or for those whose investments or activities are linked with the food sector.
This report from As You Sow can help you to better understand regenerative food systems and to benchmark major food manufacturers and suppliers on their regenerative agriculture programs, policies, and goals. The report explains the environmental benefits of regenerative agriculture, including those related to soil health and natural capital, water and air quality, and biodiversity protection. The scorecard assesses how companies publicly define regenerative agriculture and whether they require suppliers to adopt practices that are aligned with intended outcomes; how they measure and verify outcomes and data; how they support farmers; how they set, track, and report progress on regenerative agriculture goals; and how they build partnerships and supports innovation. The report also provides recommendations for food companies, investors, and policymakers.
Food fortification is a proven, cost-effective solution for micronutrient deficiencies (also known as hidden hunger), which affect billions worldwide and lead to poor health outcomes, reduced productivity, and increased healthcare costs. This playbook, co-developed between WBCSD and Eat Well Global, provides a holistic approach to food fortification that can help you to implement effective fortification strategies and support nutrition security. The playbook outlines critical success factors, barriers to scale, enablers for success, and activation strategies to drive impactful and sustainable fortification initiatives.
These guidelines from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) can help you to understand principles and internationally accepted standards of responsible practices for the use and control of land, fisheries, and forests. The guide addresses aspects of the governance of tenure of land, fisheries, and forests with regard to legal recognition and allocation of tenure rights and duties; transfers and other changes to tenure rights and duties; administration of tenure; responses to climate change and emergencies; promotion, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation; and more. The guidelines place the governance of tenure within the context of national food security, and while intended primarily for state actors, they can help change agents, community relations professionals, and others to support the right to adequate food, poverty eradication, environmental protection, and sustainable social and economic development.