Meeting Report: How to reduce the climate impact of food in Brighton and Hove
How to reduce the climate change impact of food in Brighton and Hove
Brighthelm Centre
29 February 2024
Meeting Report
Introduction
Simon Maxwell welcomed everyone to Climate:Change’s third meeting, with the topic being food. His introductory slides are here, and the transcript of his remarks here.
Previous meetings had included the launch and Local Green New Deal meetings, with food being an exciting next topic, for two reasons. Food was a huge contributor to carbon emissions in the city, and also Brighton was a leader in the food policy and action arena. This meeting would focus on the climate aspect of food, but food was much bigger than climate and the meeting would cover interconnections to other aspects of our food system.
Simon reminded the audience that Climate:Change was a think tank, not a research or campaign organisation, so the meeting would focus on policy ideas and act as a platform to bring stakeholders together.
He then introduced the panel members:
· James Joughin – leading the food workstream in Climate:Change
· Ali Ghanimi – Acting Director of the Food Partnership
· Jo Ralling – head of campaigns at the Food Foundation
Presentation by James Joughin
James Joughin’s slides are here and a transcript of his remarks here. He introduced himself as an Agricultural Economist who had spent most of his life in agriculture and food planning in developing countries, largely in Africa, and had lived in Brighton for the past 14 years.
James then presented a summary of his briefing paper for Climate:Change, covering the following key points on the carbon emitted as a result of our current food system:
· Reducing carbon emissions in the food system involves every aspect of the food system including what we eat, how we grow it, how we transport it, how we cook it, how we consume it and how we dispose of it.
· It is important to make use of the vast data available, from studies, think tanks, voluntary groups, government departments etc.
· Remaining aware of how data is collected and presented - for example, deforestation and land use are included and excluded from various datasets on the food system - broadly speaking, 30% of emissions come from the food system.
· Policy development on the food system specificAliis up against other political priorities such as justice and equity, sustainability, localism, rewilding, biodiversity etc. but an integrated approach could incorporate several of these including food.
On Brighton and Hove, James made the following points:
. Brighton and Hove emits 440,000 tons of greenhouse gases per year from residents’ food consumption – this includes emodied emissions from across the supply chain i.e. energy in production, different land use models, activities of the fertiliser industry, transport, processing, packaging and waste handling.
. The food system can be represented by a series of flows which reveals 99% of food consumed in Brighton and Hove comes from outside the city.
. Food miles - 46% of food is imported in the UK but the exact food miles in Brighton and Hove are unknown.
. Destination - 77% of food in Brighton and Hove goes to households and 12% to food services, while 5% is shipped out again and 5% wasted.
. Wastage - 13% of food is lost before reaching the city, household wastage is 22% and restaurant wastage is 14%.
. Emissions - 70% of emissions occur before the food reaches the market. The most carbon intensive food is meat which only makes up 5% by mass but is responsible for 27% of consumption-based emissions. In comparison, vegetables make up 21% by mass but only produce 4% of emissions.
The Place based calculator reveals Brighton is just below national stats in terms of emissions, with total emissions calculated to be 7.8 tons per head per year.
. While below the national average, this figure is still 180% of the UK’s per head per year target set by the climate change committee, which stands at 2.8 tons per head per year.
A closer look at market channels reveal that 60% of the 81% of food going to households goes through supermarkets but further data is difficult to obtain as supermarkets are guilty of not reporting properly.
. We do know that 10% of total sales and 14% of supermarket shares are in online sales but the consumption and consequences are unknown.
There are 1200 restaurants in Broghton and Hove, with many chains refusing to participate in research looking into carbon emissions.
. Wahaca scored best of participating chains in one study, as the only chain listing emissions in meals and with 66% of respondents saying labelling encouraged them to choose a lower carbon option.
Reducing meat consumption is a good way to reduce emission in the food system, with the beef industry being the biggest contributor, followed by lamb, dairy, pork and chicken.
It is important to look into what other cities are doing to reduce emissions to inform what can be done at a local level in Brighton and Hove.
Presentation by Ali Ghanimi
Ali Ghanimi’s slides are here and a transcript of her remarks here
Ali introduced the Food Partnership as a small, non-profit organisation that works with other organisations and individuals to work on and implement Brighton and Hove’s food strategy. This includes teaching people how to cook, how to grow food and what a healthy diet consists of, as well as working at the policy level and doing campaign work. As a result of this work, Brighton and Hove was the first city to win a gold Food Places award.
Ali then spoke about Brighton and Hove’s Food Strategy in more detail, covering the following key points:
· The five-year strategy and action plan is being refreshed, so conversations are being had at all levels.
· The plan includes 8 strategic aims, 200 actions and many partners.
· Food is the missing ingredient from the climate and ecological emergency, with sustainability cutting through most strategic aims of the food plan.
In terms of what can be done, food needs to be included in climate conversations and policy, we need to buy better, lobby and think circular.
So far, the food plan has accomplished a lot:
. The Surplus Food Network has saved 1982 tonnes of food from businesses, supermarkets etc. and redistributed to charities and organisations feeding over 5000 people.
. The community compost scheme has been rolled out across the city.
. Innovative solutions have been explored and implemented, such as dehydrating food.
. The Land Based initiative works with tenant farmers to farm more sustainably, for example by issuing farming plans specific to the local area.
. The Land Use Plus initiative is working towards a more localised food system.
. And much more.
In terms of what’s next, Ali advocated for a circular approach, council food waste collection, better managed allotments, more gardens, shaping businesses and reducing single use plastic.
Presentation by Jo Ralling
Jo Ralling’s slides are here and a transcript of her remarks here
Jo had worked with Jamie Oliver on the documentary Sugar Rush and then did a food campaign in Brighton called Sugar Smart. She spoke about the successes and learnings from her campaign work, covering the following key points:
· Shock tactics such as depicting people with diabetes-related amputations and young children with decaying teeth are effective.
. The petition following Sugar Rush gained 150,000 signatures and the conversation was started.
. At the grassroots level, Jo ran the Sugar Smart campaign in Brighton with a £4000 budget, starting by speaking with the Food Foundation and going to the council together – the partnership was key to promoting the campaign.
. Converting sugar measurements into teaspoons was extremely effective at encouraging people to engage with the Sugar Smart campaign and opened conversations with schools, universities, shops, workplaces.
. Events were held at the Level, a mayoral appearance was organised, advice for businesses was distributed, the cricket club and Royal Pavilion got involved and advertising took the form of banners, posters and focusing on entertainment at events.
Future opportunities in Brighton can learn from Sugar Smart and there are several exciting opportunities in the pipeline that could be taken to the grassroots level in the city.
. Key learnings from Sugar Smart include celebrity involvement, joining national to local, working hard, simplified messaging, entertainment and informative materials.
. A new documentary on reducing meat consumption is due to air on TV alongside a campaign called Try it Tuesday, aiming to disperse a more positive message.
The Phoenix Project in Lewes has just gained planning permission to build the most sustainable neighbourhood in Europe on an 8-hectare site, which will include 680 units, no cars and communal eating areas.
Brighton and Hove’s biggest employers such as Amex and the NHS should be pressured to do more and report better.
Considering Brighton and Hove’s large visitor economy, the city could use big events like Pride to campaign.
Discussion
On diet, the following points were made:
· People not already eating an alternative diet need a helping hand to help them avoid harmful products.
· Reducing meat is extremely important and we must hammer home the global impact of meat production on the climate including emissions and other impacts such as deforestation.
· The issue of addiction must be addressed.
· Students have demonstrated outrage at Meat-Free Mondays so how can we incentivise better choices? Perhaps a separate (and most likely shorter) queue for vegan options.
. In schools, making better diets more ‘cool’ could cause huge change.
· Grass-fed beef production produces five times less emissions than soy fed.
· Deer and rabbits could offer an alternative source of meat that is less harmful.
· Dairy milk poured into a cup of coffee is the most harmful part of the coffee rather than coffee beans internationally sourced or the single-use paper cup.
On building a local food system:
· We need to start building infrastructure now such as a local abattoir and mill as these will be extremely important if the global supply chain collapses.
· There could be a role for permaculture practices and encouraging people to learn how to grow food – we can learn from how this was fostered during wartime.
· As part of the Sussex Grazed initiative, sheep are sourced and sold locally.
· Looking into the past could be useful, such as re-implementing market gardens that were popular in the 70s.
On campaigning and networking
· There is huge potential in Brighton and Hove for partnerships and we are more powerful if we stand together.
· Persuading the council to take up ideas is a barrier to action.
· Due to limited funding we should present the government/council with low cost or cost free policies e.g., awareness campaigns.
On waste:
· The plastic system needs to be changed, as removing plastic packaging would lead to more food waste – perhaps there is a way for it to be reused.
· Everybody agrees on food waste so there will be less resistance to work done in this area.
· Changing restaurant culture could be impactful e.g., leftovers returned to the table automatically.
On joined-up thinking:
· It is worth tapping into the many parts of our lives that food impacts to spread the message further, e.g., health, and this could also help reduce costs.
· Research in Brighton has emphasised the benefits of a whole systems approach to lowering childhood obesity and this could link in with climate objectives.
· Brighton was successful in lowering childhood obesity, which was achieved through partnership, feeding information in all directions but least progress in areas with high levels of poverty. So, determining the upstream determinants of poor diets and obesity in the city is an essential part of the conversation.
· We cannot talk about sustainability without discussing poverty, injustice, class, lack of access, affordability – it is normal to separate these issues, but this must change.
. Should we be relying on the Surplus Network to redistribute food from the rich to the poor?
On agriculture:
· Regenerative agricultural practices emphasise the need for animals to turn over the soil.
James summarised three areas the attendees agreed on as meat reduction, waste reduction and public procurement as a lever for change. He finished by highlighting the need for partnerships as well as more and better data in order to build an alternative food manifesto that addresses the climate.
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EP
1 March 2024