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 “from farm to fork,” they all share the same responsibility: to be part of the global transformation towards food system sustainability. For more on CCSI and SDSN’s 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 “from farm to fork,” they all share the same responsibility: to be part of the global transformation towards food system sustainability. For more on CCSI and SDSN’s work on corporate alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals, see our framework defining SDG-aligned business practices in the energy sector

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 sector’s 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