Towards a Circular Economy for Food: The Role of the City
By Valerio Nannini, CEO and founder, Nannini & Partners and Patrick Ferran, Co-President and Chief Sales Officer, NineSigma
Food sustains and nourishes us; it is the glue that binds families and whole nations together at mealtimes — each time we gather around the table, we honor the past, experience the present and prepare for the future. Beyond the kitchen, food also increasingly connects us to a global food network where the worlds of politics, economics, the environment, culture, and science come together. A web that is shaping and reshaping itself every day — demanding that we make the most of the planet’s resources so as to guarantee adequate nutrition for all.
Be we individual consumers or small-scale farmers, multinational food companies or national governments, we are all having to rethink our relationships with the food system. From a heightened understanding of nutrients to an uptick in food rights activism, from cascading environmental emergencies to a demand for more meaningful sustainability metrics, humanity is facing new challenges and new opportunities with regard our relationship with food. And the biggest question of all is how we can provide enough healthy and delicious food to the world’s growing population without adversely impacting people and planet.
Well-rounded solutions for multifaceted challenges
The nature of the complex global food web means that indirect impacts resulting from the food system itself are wide-ranging and inevitably compounding. Think of the rampant use of antibiotics in livestock rearing and the resulting reduction in the efficacy of infectious diseases medication for humans. Or the fact that global food waste results in higher carbon emissions than all but the world’s largest two countries.
While there may be discussion still around the degrees to which the different elements within the global food system mix — political, cultural, social — contribute towards the bigger problem, what is generally agreed upon is that it is mankind’s modern-day industrial food system that needs fixing as a whole. It is as a result of this industrial system — as opposed to a more traditional smallholder system — that each year 7.5 million hectares of forests are lost, roughly a third of all food produced globally is never eaten, and perhaps most unpardonably, while over 2 billion people are overweight or obese, another 1 billion people are undernourished or at least go hungry regularly.
Clearly, this linear economic model has run its course and humanity urgently needs a new direction — circular rather linear — if we’re to be able to feed the world’s growing population whilst managing our natural resources wisely.
The bright lights of the city
While the challenge may seem overwhelming as a whole, focusing on one key piece could bring disproportionate benefits: the world’s great cities. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates that by 2050, around 80% of all food will be consumed in urban conurbations by 2050. Today these metropoles tend to represent much of what is negative about the current food system, ultimate examples of the take-make-waste approach we have over time adopted. But by the same token, cities can and should be the beacons of change, leading the way in a shift to a circular economy for food, where food ‘waste’ is upcycled and the production of food is centered around regeneration versus degradation of natural systems.
There are already some inspiring examples of cities stepping up to the plate in this regard. In April, New York mayor Bill de Blasio announced his Green New Deal banning the new construction of glass skyscrapers in an effort to cut emissions by 30%, and among other things, announcing a plan to phase out purchases of processed meats in city-run schools, hospitals and correctional facilities by 2040, amid an overall cut in meat procurement of 50%. (Why a reduction in meat consumption? Globally, livestock production accounts for nearly 15% of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, with beef and milk cattle production comprising 40 and 20% of the sector’s total, respectively.)
In other inspirational news, in March Singapore’s government set out their vision to achieve “30 by 30” — i.e., to develop the capability and capacity of the city state’s agri-food industry to locally produce 30% of its nutritional needs by 2030. (Interestingly, the country was already ranked the most food secure country in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit, despite the fact it currently produces less than 10% of its own nutritional needs. Singapore’s top ranking has been put down to its success with bolstering the resilience of its food supply.)
Learnings from the big guys
For other cities looking to take up the food system gauntlet, there are three fundamental principles that can help guide effective policymaking:
1) Think local: While pure urban farming may not be able to fully meet city dwellers full nutritional needs, cities should look to source a sizeable share of their food from peri-urban areas. These zones — within 20 kilometres of cities — encompass a massive 40% of the world’s cropland. This approach to a more local sourcing will help diversify cities’ food supply, reduce packaging needs and shorten supply chains.
2) Upcycle food and its by-products: Cities play a crucial role in designing-out food waste. Food supply and demand can be better synced, spoilage reduced due to improved storage, and products coming up to their best-before date, discounted. Meanwhile, food by-products can be converted into a wide array of valuable products.
3) Champion healthier food products: By leveraging the collective power of retailers, restaurants, schools and other providers, it should be possible to positively influence how food is produced and marketed, to make both the processes of food production healthier as well as the food itself. Consider plant-based proteins that require far fewer natural resources in their production than their animal counterparts — smart, creative food design can help protect the bioeconomy.
While the role of the city in a move to a circular economy for food should not be underestimated, to realise the broader vision at scale will require a global system-level change effort that spans all value chains. Now is the time for unprecedented collaboration between food brands, producers, retailers, governments — national and local. Combined with the scaling power of MNCs, activists and platforms, there was never a better time for these powerful ecosystems to create positive change in the global food system.
