Project Lead
Challenges
Our global food system is a contributor to biodiversity loss and climate change, accounting for around 30% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These will continue to accelerate unless we change how we produce and consume food. We have seen a shift towards unhealthy diets: high in calories, heavily processed and increasingly animal-based foods. Unhealthy diets are increasing the burden of obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases and contribute to environmental degradation. Meeting our net zero commitments while achieving nutrient security requires overhauling the current food system to create one that can deliver healthy and sustainable diets. To attain this, it is critical to understand the implications of actions to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss in our food systems.
Food is the single strongest lever to optimise human health, environmental sustainability, and biodiversity on Earth. A change to healthy diets and more environmentally sustainable production systems will require a greater than 50% reduction in global consumption of unhealthy foods, such as red meat and sugar, and a greater than 100% increase in consumption of healthy foods, such as nuts, fruits, vegetables, and legumes. Most studies thus far have concluded that a diet rich in plant-based foods and fewer animal-source foods confers improved health and environmental benefits. It is estimated that through realistic changes, UK consumers could reduce their dietary GHG emissions by 25%, equivalent to 5–7% of total UK GHG emissions. However, dietary intakes are hugely variable across income groups, age groups and groups defined by other demographics. The required level of individual or group behavioural change may vary from the general population-level solutions.
Despite increasing concern about the environmental impact of dietary choices, there is no agreement on how to measure the environmental sustainability of diets and foods or how best to communicate the potential impact of individual dietary choices on climate change and biodiversity. Previous research has shown that consumers’ knowledge about sustainable dietary choices at the product level and sustainability labels is limited. Many studies have taken population-based approaches and solutions to facilitate a change towards the adoption of diets that are healthier and have lower GHG emissions. These studies overlook inter-individual variability in drivers for food choice based on socioeconomic circumstances, life stage, demographic, and geographic background.
Questions
- How should we understand the changing Scottish diet and what can be done to promote climate responsible choices and those which improve biodiversity?
Solutions
This project aims to review what is currently known about the potential impact of changing to more healthy, environmentally sustainable, and affordable diets on climate change and biodiversity loss from a Scottish perspective. We are gathering relevant insights into how this impact can be practically measured and communicated to consumers, specifically on meal and food levels. We are assessing how cultural factors and individual life stage, socio-economical, demographical, and geographical factors are associated with a ‘readiness-to-change’ towards more environmentally sustainable food choices.
Dietary scenarios to address the global challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss.
We are reviewing what is known about the potential impact of changing to more healthy, environmentally sustainable, and affordable diets on climate change and biodiversity loss from a Scottish perspective. We are gathering relevant insights into how this impact can be practically measured and communicated to consumers, specifically on meal and food levels. The review is complemented by a round table discussion involving relevant stakeholders.
Identifying factors for ‘readiness-to-change'
We will identify the what we, in Scotland, are currently eating in terms of breakfast, lunch and dinner, and then design of a survey to identify how cultural and socio-economical, demographical, and geographical factors are associated with a ‘readiness-to-change’ to more environmentally sustainable meals and food options. In addition, we will measure actual behaviours and identify theoretical determinants of such behaviours to discover mechanisms of action through which future interventions could work. For example, if self-efficacy were a key determinant of behaviour, there would be a range of intervention options that would effectively increase self-efficacy.
Overall, this project provides valuable insights to aid the development of national guidelines for dietary change, including practical metrics and tools to measure and communicate the impact of dietary consumption patterns on climate change and biodiversity. We also identify the factors that individuals and households might change to more healthy, environmentally sustainable, affordable diets and food choices.
Project Partners
Progress
We developed an online, interactive 'dashboard' in Tableau to explore dietary, environmental and cost of UK diets, based upon the National Diet and Nutrition Survey data collected over the past decade. This allowed the assessment of what is a typical Scottish breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as consumption of these across different population groups, based on age and other demographic factors, as well as an estimation of the environmental impact of UK diets. This information advised the development scenarios of how such meals may change when moving to Net Zero by 2045. Based on the current popular Scottish breakfast, lunch, and dinner options, we then developed an online survey to assess how societal and demographical characteristics of 1500 Scottish individuals are associated with a 'readiness-to-change' towards more environmentally sustainable meal choices. We found that sociodemographic characteristics significantly contributed to whether individuals were more or less ready-to-change. For example, age group was the most relevant determinant of the readiness-to-change towards a more sustainable diet, with those in the older groups being more reluctant to change.
We also performed a systematic review, aided by an artificial intelligence (AI) approach, to assess how the environmental impact of human diets is being measured in scientific research. An AI-trained algorithm identified 1055 literature references as potentially relevant, and after full-text evaluation, we included 466 references for review. We found that the most frequently used metric to indicate environmental impact is GHG emissions, followed by land and water use. Most studies published in the literature are from developed countries and evaluate food-related impacts only, focusing on theoretical diets whilst ignoring the impact associated with imports/exports (transportation, refrigeration) and cooking practices/preservation. The outcomes of this systematic review will be published as an academic paper.
A roundtable event was held in Edinburgh, gathering academic and non-academic stakeholders to discuss and debate how we can accelerate change and how we can ensure that policies implemented to guide a transition to a more healthy and sustainable food system for consumers are just and fair. Considering the level of dietary transformation required, there was a general feeling that the Government needs to do more in terms of interventions and regulations, and to act faster. The Good Food Nation Plans could play a significant role in promoting and supporting healthy and sustainable diets, but these will need to contain tangible actions, and we need ways to monitor the outcomes. There was also a feeling that innovative power will play an important role in how and when we reach Net Zero. Pro-active engagement between academia, food and drink businesses, retailers, and (cross-Department) Government, including the transfer of knowledge, ideas and people, will allow the development of practical approaches to deliver impact for Scotland.
Knowledge from this project has led to a follow-up research project, funded through Unilever, on “Quantifying food biodiversity in UK diets: Application of the Dietary Species Richness (DSR) metric”. The outcome of this research will be published as an academic paper.
This project was completed on the 31st of July 2023. The end of project report can be found here.
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