Investors should engage with companies across the value chain, including producers, wholesalers, retailers, caterers and restaurant chains, to promote healthy and sustainable foods. Focus on the ones where a change in practice would make the most difference.
Key risk considerations for investors:
- Is the company assessing risks and opportunities that exist in the transition to healthy and sustainable diets, and those that exist if food production volatility increases through climate change?
- Is the company committed to, and setting targets for, increasing the proportion of plant foods within its portfolio?
- Is the company using its brand to promote healthy and sustainable diets and lifestyles, as well as educating people on better options?
Drive change by modifying access to capital, through both equity (where investors have shares in companies) and debt (e.g. corporate bonds or loans for infrastructure), in order to:
- Ensure companies have transparency and policies in place for key impacts from antibiotic use, animal feed and animal welfare. This will require involvement across the value chain.
- Drive a transition to ‘better’ meat and dairy: engage with meat and dairy companies to improve the sustainability of their production and the provision of environmental services, such as improving farm biodiversity, soil health and forest cover.
- Drive a transition to less meat and dairy: Encourage food companies to diversify their business models to transition towards producing and selling more plant foods. Beyond investments in lab-based meats, the focus should be on increasing output of plant foods, for instance by integrating vegetables and plant proteins into product ranges (retailers), or diversifying production into vegetables, wholegrains, nuts, seeds, fruit and pulses wherever possible (producers).
