Do EU consumers think about meat reduction when considering to eat a healthy, sustainable diet and to have a role in food system change?

This paper aims to highlight the position of meat reduction in what EU consumers think "eating a healthy and sustainable diet" involves and who has a role to play in achieving food system change. The data are based on the Eurobarometer 93.2 survey (mid 2020). The participants were asked to make their own selections out of a variety of food-related items and actors, linked to meat ("Eating meat less often") and other aspects of diets ("Eating more fruit and vegetables"). Their responses were analyzed separately in two EU regions: Northwest Europe - consisting of the 10 richest EU countries with the highest scores on economic and social sustainable development indicators - and the East and the South. Three principal components of dietary thinking were distinguished, relating to 1) nutrition issues, 2) easy “light green" issues and 3) more demanding "deeper green" issues, respectively. The analysis also distinguished three types of actors in the value chain (food chain actors, supporting actors, and governmental actors). In Northwestern Europe, a majority of consumers saw a role for themselves in making the food system more sustainable and a large minority saw meat reduction as part of a healthy and sustainable diet. Both responses were much less common in the East and South. In the Northwest, meat reduction was relatively strongly related to "deeper green" thinking but also weakly to nutrition-focused thinking, whereas the opposite was found in the East and South. However, meat reduction had no prominent position in their considerations. For policy-makers, therefore, it is crucial that both nutrition and environment can be motivating factors for consumers to consider meat reduction, albeit to different degrees

Medida de la compensación del daño ambiental en la Directiva de Responsabilidad Ambiental: lecciones aprendidas del caso Aznalcóllar-Doñana

El daño ambiental producido por el vertido tóxico de 1998 en las inmediaciones del Parque de Doñana es analizado bajo la óptica de la nueva Directiva de Responsabilidad Ambiental (DRA), que obliga al operador de la actividad contaminadora a compensar por las pérdidas provisionales. El objetivo es analizar el papel de la valoración económica en la medida de la compensación en el marco de la DRA y extraer algunas lecciones para futuras aplicaciones. Los resultados apuntan a que los servicios proporcionados por el Corredor Verde realizado tras el accidente no han compensado el daño. Se pone de manifiesto la necesidad de profundizar en el análisis de valores de no uso, el control de las respuestas protesta y el planteamiento de escenarios de valoración específicos para las pérdidas provisionales.Directiva de Responsabilidad Ambiental, compensación del daño, valoración contingente, Aznalcóllar-Doñana, Agribusiness, Q3, Q5.,

Sharing the Burden of Adaptation Financing: An Assessment of the Contributions of Countries

Climate change may cause most harm to countries that contribute least to greenhouse gas emissions. This paper identifies deontology, solidarity and consequentialism as the principles that can serve as a basis for a fair international burden sharing scheme of adaptation costs. We translate these principles into criteria that can be applied in assigning contributions of individual countries, namely historical responsibility, equality and capacity to pay. Specific political and scientific choices are discussed, highlighting implications for international burden-sharing. Combining historical responsibility and capacity to pay seems a promising starting point for international negotiations on the design of burden-sharing schemes. From the numerical assessment, it is clear that UNFCCC Annex I countries carry the greatest burden under most scenarios, but contributions differ substantially subject to the choice of an indicator for capacity to pay. The total financial contribution by the Annex I countries could be in the range of $55-68 billion annually.Adaptation Financing, Burden-Sharing, Historical Responsibility

Medida de la compensación del daño ambiental en la Directiva de Responsabilidad Ambiental: lecciones aprendidas del caso Aznalcóllar-Doñana

[EN] The Aznalcóllar mine tailings spill near the Doñana Park (Spain), taking place in 1998, is analyzed in the context of the Environmental Liability Directive (ELD). The ELD imposes liability on operators of risky activities for environmental damage, including the compensation for interim losses. The aim of this study is to analyze the role of economic valuation in the measurement of the compensation in the context of the ELD and derive some lessons for future applications. The results show that the measures carried out after the accident (Green Corridor) did not compensate for the damage at Doñana. This study points out the need of a deeper analysis of non-use values, the control of protest answers and the set up of valuation scenarios specific to the interim losses.[ES] El daño ambiental producido por el vertido tóxico de 1998 en las inmediaciones del Parque de Doñana es analizado bajo la óptica de la nueva Directiva de Responsabilidad Ambiental (DRA), que obliga al operador de la actividad contaminadora a compensar por las pérdidas provisionales. El objetivo es analizar el papel de la valoración económica en la medida de la compensación en el marco de la DRA y extraer algunas lecciones para futuras aplicaciones. Los resultados apuntan a que los servicios proporcionados por el Corredor Verde realizado tras el accidente no han compensado el daño. Se pone de manifiesto la necesidad de profundizar en el análisis de valores de no uso, el control de las respuestas protesta y el planteamiento de escenarios de valoración específicos para las pérdidas provisionales.Este trabajo se ha realizadod entro del proyecto de investigación del Sexto Programa Marco de la Unión Europea: Resource Equivalency Methods for Assessing Environmental Damage in the EU (REMEDE) (SSPI022787). Agradecemos el apoyo recibido de la Estación Biológica de Doñana (http://www.ebd.csic.es/) en Sevilla, y la financiación adicional del Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia bajo el Programa Nacional de Acceso a la Infraestructura Científica y Tecnológica Singular de Doñana.Martín-Ortega, J.; Brouwer, R.; Aiking, H. (2010). Measuring environmental damage compensation under the Environmental Liability Directive: Lessons learned from the Aznalcóllar-Doñana case. Economía Agraria y Recursos Naturales - Agricultural and Resource Economics. 10(1):17-34. https://doi.org/10.7201/earn.2010.01.02SWORD173410

Environmental degradation - an undesirable output of the food system

The food system increasingly leads to environmental pollution and resource depletion, with impacts on all four environmental compartments, namely air, water, soil, and biota (living organisms). Using one or more examples to illustrate their most salient features, this chapter summarizes the environmental degradation caused by the ever-increasing acceleration of the food system, which in turn hampers further food production increases via feedback inhibition

Key ways to legitimize diet shifts that favor plant instead of animal protein sources

A shift to a more healthy and sustainable diet (as recommended by the EAT Lancet Commission report) is currently hampered by persistent choices for meat. This paper puts forward the view that proposals for a diet shift will fall short without broad social legitimation by a change in social norms favoring plant instead of animal protein sources. Using psychological and linguistic perspectives, the paper aims to improve understanding of legitimation related to authority, moral evaluation, rationality, and story logic. Each category is examined with a view to how it may support (or oppose) the reordering of protein sources necessary for a diet shift. Key strategies are a further revision of the existing national authority-based dietary guidelines, using the diversity of rationality-based legitimations to support them, avoiding polarization of moral-based ideologies and being cautious of myths, micro-myths and stories

Strategies towards healthy and sustainable protein consumption:A transition framework at the levels of diets, dishes, and dish ingredients

This paper proposes a transition framework for restoring a healthy and sustainable balance in protein consumption in high-meat eating countries. The transition aims to reduce total protein intake as well as the dietary ratio of animal over plant protein (from 60:40 via 50:50 to 40:60), which will require changes in consumer food choice processes at the levels of diets, dishes and dish ingredients. The paper describes the background and the potential use in strategy development of the proposed DDDI (diets, dishes, dish ingredients) framework, building on existing literature. The material is integrated in a novel manner, with a key role for two dish-oriented strategies as links between national dietary guidelines, on the one hand, and product-oriented marketing approaches, on the other hand. The first strategy is promoting a varied dish pattern that includes at least some dishes with alternative protein ingredients, chosen for reasons of either meatiness, authenticity or convenience. The second strategy involves promoting a shift to mixed dishes in which part of the protein is of animal origin and the rest of plant origin. Additional complimentary strategies will be necessary to address high incomes (for sustainability) and low incomes (for health)

Protein and sustainability - the potential of insects

In this research it is aimed to outline the role and potential contribution of insects towards food security and sustainability from a multidisciplinary perspective. First, ecological, economic and social aspects of food sustainability and food security are identified by prioritising the environmental impacts associated with food production and consumption. Subsequently, it is argued how protein supply is underlying and linking the top-3 of anthropogenic impacts, i.e. (1) biodiversity loss; (2) nitrogen cycle acceleration; and (3) carbon cycle acceleration (resulting in climate change). In order to address the production and consumption inefficiencies inherent to the current food system a ranked list of more sustainable options is proposed, based on their order of magnitude. Versatile side-stream valorisation returning losses to the food chain is deemed a unique selling point of insects. In addition to quantitative impacts, however, qualitative aspects relating to feasibility also play an important part. In that respect, just a minority of Western consumers are inclined to adopt insects as food. As an illustration, consumer acceptance of edible insects as attractive food items are quantified at the level of diets, dishes and ingredients (for the Netherlands). From the perspective of sustainability, the potential of insects is reflected upon. Meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals requires a relatively rapid transition towards a circular economy. In this light, insects are undeniably useful for food, feed, and other purposes. Health may be key to entice consumers to drop their conservative attitudes and progress towards a diet transition. However, an integrated, multidisciplinary approach including all stakeholders remains a prerequisit

Climate change and species decline: Distinct sources of European consumer concern supporting more sustainable diets

This study explored whether EU's new Farm to Fork strategy (F2F) - which aims to tackle climate change, protect the environment and preserve biodiversity in the pursuit of more sustainable food practices - moves in a direction that matches consumer concerns about global issues. A key point is that the traditional differences between the policy approaches related to climate change mitigation and to biodiversity protection, respectively, correspond to differences between environment-based and nature-based attitudes at an individual level. Data from Eurobarometer 92.4 (2019) provided a set of environmental concerns and two food-related pro-environmental actions (buying local products and making a diet change to more sustainable food). Consumer responses to the latter option were assumed to indicate steps in parallel with F2F. Two multinomial regression analyses were carried out separately in Northwestern European countries, and in Eastern and Southern European countries. In both analyses, climate change and species decline were distinct sources of consumer concern, which were - independent of one another - more strongly related to reporting both options than to one option only. It was concluded that the F2F policy is in line with consumer concerns about environment and nature and that this may create important new perspectives for policymakers, businesses and consumers

Do EU consumers think about meat reduction when considering to eat a healthy, sustainable diet and to have a role in food system change?

This paper aims to highlight the position of meat reduction in what EU consumers think “eating a healthy and sustainable diet” involves and who has a role to play in achieving food system change. The data are based on the Eurobarometer 93.2 survey (mid 2020). The participants were asked to make their own selections out of a variety of food-related items and actors, linked to meat (“Eating meat less often”) and other aspects of diets (“Eating more fruit and vegetables”). Their responses were analyzed separately in two EU regions: Northwest Europe—consisting of the 10 richest EU countries with the highest scores on economic and social sustainable development indicators— and the East and the South. Three principal components of dietary thinking were distinguished, relating to 1) nutrition issues, 2) easy “light green” issues and 3) more demanding “deeper green” issues, respectively. The analysis also distinguished three types of actors in the value chain (food chain actors, supporting actors, and governmental actors). In Northwestern Europe, a majority of consumers saw a role for themselves in making the food system more sustainable and a large minority saw meat reduction as part of a healthy and sustainable diet. Both responses were much less common in the East and South. In the Northwest, meat reduction was relatively strongly related to “deeper green” thinking but also weakly to nutrition-focused thinking, whereas the opposite was found in the East and South. However, meat reduction had no prominent position in their considerations. For policy-makers, therefore, it is crucial that both nutrition and environment can be motivating factors for consumers to consider meat reduction, albeit to different degrees