Towards sustainable food systems : an analysis of EU policy measures setting environmental sustainability requirements

The current challenges affecting the EU food system call for an urgent shift towards more sustainability. As set out by the Commission Farm to Fork Strategy, the path to achieve such an ambitious goal should promote policy coherence at EU and national level, mainstream sustainability in food-related policies and strengthen the resilience of food systems. In this report, we focus on provisions setting requirements to improve the sustainability of food products. This report was carried out to better understand the environmental impacts of such provisions and their evolution over time, as well as their coverage in terms of actors and environmental impacts of the EU food system. Available data show that the environmental impacts of the EU food system are increasing and current trends are expected to be maintained. An analysis of existing EU policies suggests that there is a complex and fragmented policy landscape in the EU and in the Member States, which can act as a barrier to more systemic and transformative approaches to the governance of food systems. A focus on food waste highlights the lack of monitoring in current initiatives, hindering the efficacy of the plan, as well as an incoherent uptake of initiatives across the EU. The relevant actors are involved in existing policy initiatives in an heterogeneous way resulting in environmental impacts not being addressed consistently along the entire supply chain. Furthermore, the environmental impacts of the EU food system are not addressed horizontally and consistently across existing legislation.