6 research outputs found
Handbook for SDG-Aligned Food Companies: Four Pillar Framework Standards
The world food system is in crisis. Outright hunger, unhealthy diets and malnutrition occur parallel to food losses and waste. Farming families in poor countries suffer from extreme poverty. And food production is environmentally unsustainable and increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather events caused by climate change. A historic change of direction is needed to bring about a new era of food system sustainability. Our work aims to help companies, investors and other stakeholders move towards a more sustainable food system that is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Transforming the world food system to achieve sustainability in all its dimensions is a major challenge. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will require managing major changes to the global food system responsibly, involving hundreds of millions of farmers and their families, global supply chains, thousands of food producing companies, diverse food production systems and local ecologies, food processing and a great diversity of food traditions and cultures.
Food companies are engaged in food production, trade, processing, and consumer sales around the world. While they have distinct roles âfrom farm to fork,â they all share the same responsibility: to be part of the global transformation towards food system sustainability.
For more on CCSI and SDSNâs work on corporate alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals, see our framework defining SDG-aligned business practices in the energy sector
Handbook for SDG-Aligned Food Companies: Four Pillar Framework Standards
The world food system is in crisis. Outright hunger, unhealthy diets and malnutrition occur parallel to food losses and waste. Farming families in poor countries suffer from extreme poverty. And food production is environmentally unsustainable and increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather events caused by climate change. A historic change of direction is needed to bring about a new era of food system sustainability. Our work aims to help companies, investors and other stakeholders move towards a more sustainable food system that is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Transforming the world food system to achieve sustainability in all its dimensions is a major challenge. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will require managing major changes to the global food system responsibly, involving hundreds of millions of farmers and their families, global supply chains, thousands of food producing companies, diverse food production systems and local ecologies, food processing and a great diversity of food traditions and cultures.
Food companies are engaged in food production, trade, processing, and consumer sales around the world. While they have distinct roles âfrom farm to fork,â they all share the same responsibility: to be part of the global transformation towards food system sustainability.
For more on CCSI and SDSNâs work on corporate alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals, see our framework defining SDG-aligned business practices in the energy sector
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Fixing the Business of Food: Aligning Food Company Practices with the SDGs
This report is part of an ongoing annual series of reports on Fixing the Business of Food initiated and actively supported by the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition (BCFN). The report is the product of a team including BCFN, the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI) at Columbia University, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN SDSN), and the Santa Chiara Lab (SCL) of the University of Siena. CCSI and UN SDSN are responsible for Section 1 of the report, on the Four Pillar Framework. Santa Chiara Lab is responsible for Section 2 of the report, on applying the Four Pillar Framework to a selection of major food companies. The BCFN has generously and actively supported the entire project and has been involved in all aspects of this work.
We emphasize that Fixing the Business of Food is an annual report and very much a work in progress. The challenges that we are describing and aiming to address are deep, complex, and still very much under-addressed. Food companies are just becoming aware of the magnitude of the crisis, and many governments remain wholly unaware. The UN Food System Summit aims to change this reality, with all due urgency. We recognize that we are just at the start of a longterm transformation of the food system, and other parts of society (energy, infrastructure, health, education, and others) to achieve the SDGs, fulfill the Paris Climate Agreement, and ultimately, to build the future we want. Companies are just now becoming aware of the Four Pillar Framework. We intend to continue to develop, deepen, and expand our work in the years ahead, and therefore welcome comments, feedback, and opportunities for exchanging viewpoints and information
Fixing the business of food : Aligning food company practices with the SDGs
The 2021 Fixing the Business of Food report provides an update on the food and agribusiness sectorâs alignment with the SDGs, as well as offering guidelines to help companies accomplish the change of direction needed to address this challenge.Fixing the Business of Food recommends that companies test their strategies and activities across four key areas: beneficial products and strategies, sustainable business operations and internal processes, sustainable supply and value chains, and good corporate citizenship.The report introduces this 4-pillar Framework and a set of 21 corresponding standards to lead the change towards more sustainable food systems. The report outlines the results of some empirical studies conducted to analyze the alignment of food companies with the SDGs through the framework
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Safety, uptake, and use of a dapivirine vaginal ring for HIV-1 prevention in African women (HOPE): an open-label, extension study
BackgroundTwo phase 3 clinical trials showed that use of a monthly vaginal ring containing 25 mg dapivirine was well tolerated and reduced HIV-1 incidence in women by approximately 30% compared with placebo. We aimed to evaluate use and safety of the dapivirine vaginal ring (DVR) in open-label settings with high background rates of HIV-1 infection, an important step for future implementation.MethodsWe did a phase 3B open-label extension trial of the DVR (MTN-025/HIV Open-label Prevention Extension [HOPE]). Women who were HIV-1-negative and had participated in the MTN-020/ASPIRE phase 3 trial were offered 12 months of access to the DVR at 14 clinical research centres in Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. At each visit (monthly for 3 months, then once every 3 months), women chose whether or not to accept the offer of the ring. Used, returned rings were tested for residual amounts of dapivirine as a surrogate marker for adherence. HIV-1 serological testing was done at each visit. Dapivirine amounts in returned rings and HIV-1 incidence were compared with data from the ASPIRE trial, and safety was assessed. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02858037.FindingsBetween July 16, 2016, and Oct 10, 2018, of 1756 women assessed for eligibility, 1456 were enrolled and participated in the study. Median age was 31 years (IQR 27-37). At baseline, 1342 (92·2%) women chose to take the DVR; ring acceptance was more than 79% at each visit up until 12 months and 936 (73·2%) of 1279 chose to take the ring at all visits. 12â530 (89·3%) of 14â034 returned rings had residual dapivirine amounts consistent with some use during the previous month (>0·9 mg released) and the mean dapivirine amount released was greater than in the ASPIRE trial (by 0·21 mg; p<0·0001). HIV-1 incidence was 2·7 per 100 person-years (95% CI 1·9-3·8, 35 infections), compared with an expected incidence of 4·4 per 100 person-years (3·2-5·8) among a population matched on age, site, and presence of a sexually transmitted infection from the placebo group of ASPIRE. No serious adverse events or grade 3 or higher adverse events observed were assessed as related to the DVR.InterpretationHigh uptake and persistent use in this open-label extension study support the DVR as an HIV-1 prevention option for women. With an increasing number of HIV-1 prophylaxis choices on the horizon, these results suggest that the DVR will be an acceptable and practical option for women in Africa.FundingThe Microbicide Trials Network and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the National Institute of Mental Health, all components of the US National Institutes of Health