FDF leads food system drive to be Nature Positive by 2030

To support the food and drink manufacturing sector’s role in stopping and reversing nature loss by 2030, or reaching ‘Nature Positive’, the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) has released a new Nature Handbook. The handbook outlines how businesses can understand their impact on nature and take steps towards a more sustainable future, as well as setting out a vision for collaboration across the food supply chain and with policy makers.

With record temperatures, wildfires, floods and droughts around the world, food manufacturers, alongside their supply chain partners, have a vital role in reducing their impact on the nature. Food systems account for around a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions and over 80% of global biodiversity loss. With food manufacturers reliant on nature to make the food the nation eats, restoring our natural environment is essential to building a more resilient food system.

While there is a clear need to support the mission to reach Nature Positive, there is a significant funding gap of at least £44 billion for nature restoration from now to the early part of the next decade. While there are many challenges and hurdles to overcome, businesses are already making progress momentum is growing. Co-authored by Broadway Initiative, an alliance of organisations promoting sustainability action in the UK, The Nature Handbook aims to build on this momentum, outlining the opportunities manufacturers have to protect and restore our natural environment.

The Nature Handbook guides businesses through the process of driving investment in nature and regenerative farming. This includes identifying their current impact on the environment and the nature related risks in their supply chains. The handbook also provides guidance for businesses to create the business case for action; build support from internal stakeholders and collaborate across the supply chain; as well as identifying financing pathways.

Balwinder Dhoot, director of sustainability and growth, The Food and Drink Federation, said: ‘As the impacts of climate change continue to grow, so too does the threat to our natural environment and the resilience of our food system. From farm to fork, our industry is not only dependent on nature to make the food and drink the nation eats every day, but it is also a significant contributor to climate change and biodiversity loss. That is why we are helping food manufacturers lead the charge and work across the whole food system to protect and restore the environment.

‘The Nature Handbook guides businesses, wherever they are in their sustainability journeys, through the process of taking action, so that we can contribute to the UK’s Nature Positive ambition to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030.’

Liam Stokes, nature and communications director, Broadway Initiative, said: ‘We are living through a time of unprecedented environmental crisis. Wildlife and the ecosystems they inhabit are dwindling at home and around the world. The crisis presents not only a moral imperative, but a challenge to the food and drinks sector which depends upon nature. Yet businesses are not only threatened by the perilous state of nature; they also hold the solution. This handbook presents food and drinks manufacturers with the tools they need to lead the way in nature positive action and build the resilient, sustainable businesses of tomorrow.’

The handbook supports the nature pillar of FDF’s Ambition 2030 programme – its flagship sustainability strategy for the food and drink manufacturing, setting out the sector’s role in tackling climate change. The strategy outlines how each business can make its contribution towards a more sustainable future, as well as setting out a vision for collaboration between manufacturers and across the food supply chain. 

The Nature Handbook can be accessed here.