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Information acc. 13, 14, 21 GDPR

Better Food Environments

Policy levers to boost healthy sustainable food choices

Food environments are the spaces and situations in which people make decisions about acquiring, preparing, and consuming food. Food environments encompass the physical, economic, political, and social contexts that shape what food is available, affordable, and appealing – not just what’s on supermarket shelves or menus.1 2 3

The food environment as an interface between people and food systems

Adapted from EU Food Policy Coalition (2021)

Current food environments disproportionately supply convenient, affordable, and hyperpalatable products that are also unhealthy and unsustainable.4 5 6 The result is that, in many high-income countries, the average consumption of energy, red meat, processed meat, sugars, salt, and fats exceed health recommendations, while the consumption of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts typically falls short.7 8 9 Furthermore, diets that are high in animal-sourced foods contribute significantly more to climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource depletion than plant-rich diets do.10 11 12 Even the food supply influences food environments, driven by both production and trade, impacting dietary diversity, nutrient adequacy, and diet-related disease risk.13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

A circular graph shows that the global food system is responsible for one-third of global emissions, with one-third of the circle shaded in dark gray and the text “1/3 of global emissions” inside the circle.
A circular chart shows that animal-based foods are responsible for up to 20% of total human-made greenhouse gas emissions. The 20% section is highlighted in orange.
A donut chart showing that animal-based foods use about 80% of global agricultural land, with the proportion highlighted in orange.

To date, policies aiming to improve food environments have generally overemphasised consumer education and personal responsibility, while underestimating the structural forces that limit and steer consumer choices.22 23 24 In order to drive large-scale change, policy solutions should go beyond consumers to target areas across the food value chain.25 26 27 28

Recognising this critical link between food environments and health and sustainability goals, some countries have implemented exemplary laws and policies to bridge the gap and drive meaningful change. These interventions remove obstacles and reshape food environments in order to make sustainable and healthy foods the easiest and most affordable choices.29 30 31 32

Real-world steps toward improving food environments

Denmark’s Action Plan for Plant-Based Foods aims to grow the country’s plant-based food industry as part of its green transition. The plan supports the entire supply chain and includes export promotion, funding for crop development, and research investments to help Danish companies lead in domestic, and global plant-based food markets.33

Portugal’s updated climate plan commits to a National Strategy for Plant-Based Proteins via a low-carbon dietary shift. The strategy includes expanding plant-based meals in public institutions, incentivising local legume production, and funding plant-protein research. The plan supports Portugal’s wider goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 and building a more sustainable food system.34

Switzerland announced a robust multi-stakeholder plan to advance both environmental and public health goals. The plan has six key objectives: promote a balanced and healthy diet with sufficient nutrient intake, boost nutritional literacy, strengthen plant-based nutrition, involve all food industry actors, create healthy and sustainable food environments, and reduce food waste.35

The national food strategy of Germany seeks to align public food procurement with the German Nutrition Society’s updated 2024 guidelines, which incorporate both nutritional and environmental considerations. The guidelines recommend no more than one meat-based dish per week in public canteens and emphasise a predominantly plant-based menu. In several federal states, these standards are mandatory for schools and kindergartens.

In the United States, the New York City Health and Hospitals system achieved a 36% reduction in emissions simply by making the daily ‘Chef’s Recommendation’ a plant-based option by default across all 11 public hospitals in the city, first for lunch, and then for dinner. Since 2022, over a million plant-based meals have been served, while patient satisfaction has remained high at 98%.36

Portugal became the first country in the world to mandate plant-based meal options in all its public schools, hospitals, universities, and prisons.

Spain’s Council of Ministers has mandated that school cafeterias serve and emphasise plant-sourced foods in order to better reflect the country’s evidence-based FBDGs.

Plant-rich public catering

Global warming potential of lasagne meals

The nutrition incentive program GusNIP in the United States—short for the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program—provides matching funds for fruit and vegetable purchases made by low-income families receiving food assistance. It has improved healthy food access and equity for low-income households,37 38 39 while also boosting local farm economies by channeling more food dollars to farmers’ markets and small retailers.

In order to ease cost-of-living pressures and promote healthier diets,  in 2022 Spain temporarily cut VAT on staples (fruits, vegetables, legumes, bread, milk) to 0%, while retaining taxes on meat. Prices on zero-rated staples dropped by 4.24%, compared to a 1.11% increase in unaffected products.40

Starting in 2030, Denmark will implement the world’s first carbon tax on livestock emissions. The measure is projected to cut 1.8 million tons of CO₂e by 2030—helping Denmark reach its 70% emissions reduction target compared to 1990—and funds will be reinvested into agricultural green transition. 

Chile requires FOP ‘high in’ labels for food products that exceed limits for sodium, saturated fats, and total sugars as well as total energy. As a result, the country saw a decrease in daily per-capita purchases of calories, sugar, saturated fat, and sodium from these products. After implementation, Chile saw a decrease in daily per capita purchases of calories, sugar, saturated fat, and sodium from these products.41 Additionally, the overall healthfulness of packaged foods and beverages improved, with a smaller proportion requiring at least one warning label.42

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1

Commit to a comprehensive national food or climate strategy that aims to improve food environments by driving a holistic, system-wide shift toward plant-based diets. A plant-based action plan should include a government acknowledgment, commitment, and multilateral strategy to help people eat more plant foods and reduce consumption of animal products

2

Develop and implement Food-Based Dietary Guidelines in ways that inform policies and programs, particularly in public food environments. Public canteens in schools, hospitals, and daycares should serve healthy, sustainable meals with more plant‑based dishes. 


3

Leverage fiscal policies like taxes and subsidies to make healthy and sustainable foods more affordable. This might include integrating true costs of production into prices. Prices that reflect the production costs related to environmental and public health could help shift demand in the right direction.43 44


4

Mandate clear, enforceable front-of-package nutrition and sustainability labels on food products. The emergence of front-of-package labels has resulted in households buying fewer unhealthy foods and has pushed companies to reformulate products in order to reduce levels of sugars, fats, and salt,45 46 47 where nutrient warnings specifically appear to have the strongest effect.48

5

Expand access to fresh food in underserved areas. Promising initiatives include mobile markets,49 50 food and community carts,51 52 nutrition incentives (e.g., produce prescriptions, vouchers),53 54 and cash transfers.

Contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals

Plant-rich retail environments can help achieve Sustainable Development Goals since all goals are directly or indirectly connected to sustainable and healthy food.

The SDGs can be linked together economically, societally and ecologically. Illustration: Azote for Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University

References

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