© Reetta Pasanen / WWF SUMMARY The impact of food systems can be felt in our daily lives - they are an essential pillar of our societies and economies, but at the same time massively contributing to biodiversity loss and climate change. The way we produce and consume food is not only unsustainable, but also detrimental to our own health. Currently, our food systems are responsible for 34% of global CO2 emissions1 and for the unhealthy 2 diets behind the deaths of 1 in 5 Europeans . To tackle this, the European Commission placed the Farm to Fork Strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system at the heart of the European Green Deal, and announced a flagship EU legislative framework for sustainable food systems for late 2023. This new EU law will aim to integrate sustainability into all food-related policies, while addressing the inextricable links between healthy people, healthy societies and a healthy planet. WWF welcomes the Commission’s commitment to rethink and transform our food systems, and believes that to make them truly sustainable, this new law must include the following elements: 1. Set mandatory 2050 targets: Establish a 2050 vision for sustainable food systems to provide a clear direction and ensure coherence among food- related policies. This must include intermediate and final binding targets that apply to the entire food system, from production to consumption, as well as a comprehensive evaluation mechanism to monitor progress. 2. Shift consumption: Support the adoption of healthy and sustainable diets and the protein transition3. This must entail using all policy tools to tackle key aspects of the food system, such as food characteristics (i.e. appearance, nutritional content), length of supply chains, public procurement, advertising and promotion, dietary guidelines, retail and other food services. 3. Lower prices of sustainable food: Strive to make healthy and sustainable diets the cheapest option for consumers. By adopting policy measures that are informed by the true cost of food, and which take into account environmental and social impacts while preventing unfair competition, this will also foster more sustainable production. 4. National action plans and sustainability rules for business: Create new obligations for large food businesses - so they improve the sustainability of the food supply chain - and require national governments to complement EU action through national food plans. This will ensure that these actors are accountable with transparent and EU-standardised reporting requirements. 5. Improve food systems governance: Renew the governance of EU food policies, including by creating a scientific advisory board and a platform for locally-led initiatives for sustainable food systems. Making it more inclusive and science-based will ensure fairness and adaptive management capacity during the transition. 1 Crippa, M., Solazzo, E., Guizzardi, D. et al. Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions. Nat Food 2, 198–209 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00225-9 2 European Commission. 2022. Factsheet: From farm to fork: Our food, our health, our planet, our future. 3 Protein transition in diets consists of eating considerably less animal protein and more plant-based and alternative sources of protein. VALUING FOOD - FOR A GAME-CHANGING EU LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS 3