Selling Sustainability? In search of the retail business case for sustainable diets

Conservation Climate Change Sustainability

2012

BRIEFUK

About One Planet Food and WWF-UK

One Planet Food is a groundbreaking initiative from WWF-UK, dedicated to achieving a sustainable, equitable and fair food system. We aim to reduce key global environmental impacts of the food we grow and eat whilst providing healthy, nutritious food for an expanding world population. Since 2009 we have been working with government, retailers and producers to understand and reduce the impacts of food consumption on the environment; here, we focus on the role of retailers. Drawing on research by Brook Lyndhurst exploring the retail business case for promoting sustainable diets, we present key recommendations that would enable retailers to play their part.

For further information on the work of the One Planet Food programme visit our website: wwf.org.uk/food

About Brook Lyndhurst

Brook Lyndhurst is an independent research and strategy consultancy. We work on projects that are concerned with understanding, promoting and delivering sustainability. Since coming into being in 1999 we have worked for clients throughout the UK that share our commitment to the need to build a more sustainable society; and who understand, too, that the practical steps by which this can be achieved need to be based on robust evidence, creative insight and bold vision.

Brook Lyndhurst’s sophisticated research techniques, careful analysis and unrivalled experience give our clients genuine insight into what consumers think, feel and believe about food and why they make the choices that they do.

Get in touch:

Visit our website: www.brooklyndhurst.co.uk Email us: contact@brooklyndhurst.co.uk Call us: +44 (0)20 8846 2100 Fax us: +44 (0)20 3441 1371 Follow us on twitter at: www.twitter.com/brooklyndhurst

This brief is based on a report by Brook Lyndhurst Selling sustainability? In search of the retail business case for sustainable diets available at wwf.org.uk/food

Lucy Young Senior Policy Advisor (Food) lyoung@wwf.org.uk

Funded by the Esmeé Fairbairn Foundation

A sustainable food brief by WWF and Brook Lyndhurst

WWF-UK Selling Sustainability? 2012 page 3

ContentSIntRoDUCtIon Why change what we eat? 5

Why retailers? 5

tHe ReSeARCH What are retailers already doing? 7

What are the barriers to further action? 8

What action is needed to enable retailers to act? 10

ConCLUSIon 12

ReFeRenCeS 12

IntRoDUCtIonThis paper is part of a series of discussion and research pieces that explore the challenges of enabling sustainable food consumption as a means to address the stalemate in debate over the role on meat consumption in mitigating climate change. We work with government, retailers and producers in the project and are grateful to the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation for funding this work.

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WWF-UK Selling Sustainability? 2012 page 5

WHy CHAnge WHAt We eAt?

What we eat impacts on climate change, water and biodiversity, and some foods use more natural resources than others.

Sustainable production of food is important, and can significantly contribute to reducing the UK’s environmental footprint. However, evidence suggests that production efficiencies alone will not allow us to reach our greenhouse

gas reduction target; we also need to change the types of food we eat, focusing on the hot spots. Meat has the biggest impact in terms of GHG emissions , so reducing the amount of meat we eat in the UK is critical to reducing our environmental footprint. This call has come from others, including Lord Stern, the UK government’s Committee on Climate Change, and the UK Chief Scientist’s Foresight report. It is supported by experts in the fields of health, nutrition and environmental sustainability.

Previous research has made important strides towards defining a sustainable diet and understanding how to make food consumption more sustainable. For example, WWF’s ‘Livewell Plate’ outlines guidance for achieving a varied and nutritionally balanced diet that would also meet the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 70% by 2050. In practice, however, the task is very complex, because of the temporal and spatial variance in the sustainability impacts of food production and consumption, and the trade-offs that exist between different sustainability indicators. Moreover, there are many and varied ways of persuading and helping people to adopt more sustainable patterns of food consumption; and there are many different types of people to help and persuade.

SUStAInABLe pRoDUCtIon oF FooD

IS ImpoRtAnt BUt We ALSo neeD to

CHAnge tHe typeS oF FooD We eAt

WHy RetAILeRS? Retail businesses are uniquely placed to drive changes in consumption patterns, because of their size and their expertise in sales and marketing.

They are able to influence purchasing decisions by altering the range of products they offer, by choosing to position and promote different products in different ways, and by providing information about how to prepare and enjoy different foods.

Retailers could potentially alter consumption patterns to address sustainability issues by providing more information about the impacts of different food products, by providing and promoting more sustainable offerings, or by restricting the provision of less sustainable options. Nevertheless, since business decisions taken by retailers are heavily influenced by a desire to maximise profits, any actions to change consumption patterns for sustainability reasons would, necessarily, need be based on the same commercial principles, or driven by shareholder values.

RetAILeRS CoULD potentIALLy ALteR

ConSUmptIon pAtteRnS

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tHe ReSeARCHThe research undertaken by Brook Lyndhurst was concerned with: the identification of existing actions by retailers to encourage and enable consumers to adopt more sustainable diets; and the development of a convincing retail business case for further action.

WWF-UK Selling Sustainability? 2012 page 7

WHAt ARe RetAILeRSALReADy DoIng?

Retailers have adopted a number of initiatives that broadly support more sustainable patterns of food consumption, whether for the sake of sustainability or in pursuit of other goals. But these activities are piecemeal,

and they lack support from overarching corporate policies or commitments to foster more sustainable diets.

Examples include:

the sustainable sourcing of fish

promoting seasonal fruit and vegetables

labelling low carbon products

providing green ranges and organic and fair trade products

encouraging sustainable behaviours such as eat less meat

If retailers are to be persuaded to proactively influence food consumption patterns, the following basic requirements need to be satisfied:

l Strong scientific evidence and political consensus that a problem exists because of the types and amounts of foods that people are eating;

l Availability of a clear and viable strategy to address the problem;

l Stakeholder support for the chosen solution;

l Action by competitors to address the problem, or encouragement to seize first mover advantage; and,

l Consumer understanding and interest in the issue to be addressed.

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WWF-UK Selling Sustainability? 2012 page 8

WHAt ARe tHe BARRIeRSto FURtHeR ACtIon?

In this research project, Brook Lyndhurst developed and tested a number of hypothetical but realistic case studies of actions that retailers might take in the future to foster more sustainable food consumption.

Amongst these case studies, the most promising was based on the opportunity for collective action to use and sell more fruit and vegetables in a broader range of alternative meal formats and occasions. Nevertheless, retailers feel that widespread action to foster sustainable diets is undermined by the following barriers:

l Reputational risks associated with providing consumers with advice and information about sustainable diets in the absence of a universally agreed definition amongst stakeholders;

l The lack of a policy or legal imperative to act;

l Limited consumer demand, because of lack of understanding or willingness to pay, for more sustainable products; and

l The possibility of “doing the wrong thing”; that new scientific evidence or political positions in the future might contradict the messages and activities of today.

These findings suggest that all stakeholders involved in dialogue about sustainable diets should do two things:

l Work quickly to establish a consensus-based definition of a sustainable diet; and

l Accelerate any and all changes in consumer sentiment that would encourage and enable retailers to promote more sustainable patterns of food consumption.

Retaliers, governments and non-govermental organisations (NGO’s) all have a role to play.

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WWF-UK Selling Sustainability? 2012 page 10

WHAt ACtIon IS neeDeD to enABLe RetAILeRS to ACt?

Retailers, government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) all have a role to play. Government should give priority to the following actions:

To support these actions, NGOs should work to build consensus between government, retailers and other stakeholders by:

with other stakeholders lead on the development of a clear definition of sustainable diets, and convert this definition into specific dietary guidance

competing discourses on sustainable diets and developing appropriate engagement strategies for different interested parties

with retailers to identify commercially viable solutions to sustainability issues

the full suite of policy tools available to facilitate changes in consumption patterns, and use the resulting insights to outline specific policy objectives that implicate the business sector (including retail and food service)

a clear position on sustainable diets

other components of the food sector (notably food service) in discussions about what actions should be taken to complement action by the retail sector

policy measures to buffer negative industry impacts that might arise from wholesale changes in diets as a result of action by retailers and food service businesses

a united front with other interested parties to lobby government and the retail sector more effectively

alliances with other food influencers, such as celebrity chefs and the media, to raise the profile of sustainable diets and reduce contradictory messaging

Working

mapping

Working

evaluate

Formatting

Involving

Identify

Building

Building

WWF-UK Selling Sustainability? 2012 page 11

Retailers also have a central role to play in:

and influencing consumer sentiment with respect to sustainable diets, in partnership with other stakeholders

their knowledge and experience of influencing consumption behaviours to inform the development of future policy interventions, including ones that will affect the commercial viability of different options

participating in discussions about sustainable diets, rather than watching and waiting for others’ views to emerge

the development of new sustainability initiatives internally by raising the profile of the agenda across the business

to government the support they need to enable them promote sustainable diets

innovation amongst suppliers to develop a wider range of more sustainable product offerings

monitoring

Sharing

Actively

Stimulating

Communicating

Stimulating

WWF-UK Selling Sustainability? 2012 page 12

1 Audsley et al (2010) How Low can we go? An assessment of the greenhouse gas emissions from the UK food system and the scope for reduction by 2050. WWF-UK

2 For example see FAO (2006) Livestock’s long shadow; Murphy Bokern, D (2008) An assessment of environmental impacts of UK food consumption. WWF UK; various reports and briefings from the FCRN;

3 WWF-UK (2011) Livewell: A balance of healthy and sustainable food choices. Produced in collaboration with the Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, University of Aberdeen.

4 Jackson, B. et al (2009) Retailer strategies for reducing the climate impacts of red meat and dairy consumption. A report for WWF-UK.

5 Singleton, S. (2010) Mainstreaming sustainable food consumption through positive reinforcement in the retail environment. A report for WWF-UK (unpublished).

6 Retail interview insight (anonymous).

References

The issue of retailers influencing consumers is, perhaps, the most challenging. In broad policy terms, consumer sovereignty remains paramount at national and international levels, and retailers are acutely conscious of the fact that, unless they keep their customers ‘happy’, then

market share, profits and reputation can all suffer. Incremental change is, from such a perspective, the best that can be hoped for.

Conversely, retailers are in a unique position to shape the consumer experience, to control what is and what is not made available, and to sell not just products but lifestyles. Upon them rests a very considerable responsibility. Individual consumers may ‘want’ an environmentally friendly option; governments and NGOs may hope for the same; but it is, in the end, retailers who are at the heart of the UK’s food system. There may not yet be a ‘business case’ for sustainable diets that meets retailer requirements; but unless and until retailers make it straightforward for consumers to buy a sustainable diet, the prospects for radical change are limited.

In summary, the development and promotion of ‘sustainable diets’ represents a challenge but also an opportunity. Existing actions and dialogue on the issue suggest there is a great deal of good will upon which to build and a range of feasible actions that can be taken by retailers, government and non-governmental organisations to enable us all to move forward.

wwf.org.uk/food

ConCLUSIon

UKWWF.oRg.UK/FooD

SeLLIng SUStAInABILIty? 2012©

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Food in numbers

30% of global biodiversity loss is attributable to livestock production, primarily through clearing land to grow animal feed

40%

30%

1/2

of food planted worldwide is wasted, between harvest and kitchen

the proportion of UK greenhouse gas emissions generated by the food sector

Half the world’s population eat either too much or too little

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