A move towards a more sustainable global food system could create financial benefits of up to £7.9 trillion a year, improve human health and ease the climate crisis, according to the most comprehensive worldwide economic study of its type.
Research has unearthed the fact that existing food production systems have massive environmental and medical costs. They create a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, putting the world on course for 2.7C of warming by the end of the century, causing more extreme weather patterns and crop failures, leading to societal disruption and serious health issues. Johan Rockström, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and one of the study’s authors, said: “The global food system holds the future of humanity on Earth in its hand.”
The report’s authors admit that changing food production on a global scale would be ‘challenging’, but would have massive benefits. They propose a financial shift
