We are continuing the series of EU Staff for Climate position papers, this time focusing on a topic which continues to trigger intense and polarised debates across media and society and among political actors, but with very limited progress in practice: food systems and their transition to sustainability.

In this new position paper, we start from the painfully clear state of play: the global food system is damaging the planet and its people, and the EU has a key role in maintaining or changing the status quo.

Achieving climate targets and addressing the planetary emergency is impossible without a food system transformation. In addition, the EU continues to pay a high economic and social cost for unhealthy diets that significantly contribute to a large proportion of noncommunicable diseases (including cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and some cancers, which together are the main killers in the EU), resulting in huge economic costs.

Our position paper proposes actions that we see as key – both now and during the mandate of the next Commission – for starting a food system transformation and for pushing it forward.

As with all systemic transitions that need to take place, there are inevitable costs and difficulties to face. However, those costs will only increase if the changes are postponed, and they will be far smaller than the costs of inaction: the FAO recently estimated that the food system has ‘huge hidden costs on our health, the environment and society, equivalent to at least $10 trillion a year’ globally. Any costs will certainly be exceeded by long-term benefits across society.

We very much hope our paper can bring a positive contribution to the policy debate and thinking, inside and outside the EU institutions. We invite you to share it with anyone who is interested in food sustainability – a topic which in one way or another touches everyone’s lives.

Read our position paper ‘Food for Earth and for all: a call for the EU to act’.