Food must be central to UK climate resilience plans

Parliament's Energy Security and Net Zero Committee today published its report, UK climate leadership at a crossroad, warning that failures to deliver on climate adaptation are affecting people's welfare and undermining the UK's international climate leadership.

The Committee calls on Government to bring forward a plan, measures and legislation to tackle the UK's lagging performance on adaptation, and to rate policies across government against their impact on climate risks. It also criticises siloed policymaking across Whitehall and calls for stronger local delivery.

The report notes fundamental climate risks to the UK's food, water and energy systems.

Joss MacDonald, Public Affairs Manager, Sustain, said:

"The Committee is right that adaptation can't wait, but food deserves far greater prominence in this conversation. Extreme heat, drought, flooding and shifting weather patterns can affect what farmers are able to grow and disrupt supply chains, pushing up food prices and squeezing household budgets.

"Food belongs at the centre of the UK's adaptation plans as a cost of living issue as much as a climate one. The good news is that the right solutions can cut emissions while making us more resilient to the shocks ahead."

Resilience starts locally

Sustain particularly welcomes the Committee's focus on local delivery. The report highlights that local action is essential to credible climate leadership, and calls on Government to report back on proposals for a Locally Determined Contributions Framework to help local authorities decarbonise and build resilience.

Resilient local food systems must be central to this. Through the Sustainable Food Places network, local food partnerships bring together councils, farmers, businesses, public institutions and community groups, connecting climate action with sustainable farming, public health, food poverty, procurement and thriving local food economies.

Stronger links between producers and local markets, more routes to market, and local infrastructure to process and distribute food all help places withstand shocks to supply and prices.

The Sustainable Food Places network is calling on Government to recognise local food partnerships as part of the infrastructure for climate resilience and give them long-term funding, so they can plan ahead with confidence and every area can develop a joined-up approach to a healthy and resilient food system. Wales already provides government support for local food partnerships, and the network wants England to follow suit.

A plan for a resilient food system

We want Government to make food and farming integral to its adaptation plans. That starts with backing resilient farming: farming that supports our natural infrastructure of soil, water and nature, so that we can keep farming well into the future. It also means diversifying supply chains, strengthening sustainable domestic production including horticulture, and investing in the infrastructure that gets good food to the people who need it.

Adaptation and emissions reduction go together. Every fraction of a degree of warming avoided makes adaptation easier and cheaper, and food policy offers the chance to make progress on both.

Joined-up action through a Good Food Bill

The Committee questions whether the Government's Climate Security Taskforce has the remit and powers to match a brief that covers food, water and energy. For the Sustain alliance, food shows why joined-up government matters, with decisions on farming, procurement, health and trade all shaping how resilient our food system will be.

That is why Sustain and our members are calling for a Good Food Bill for England to give government a framework that joins up its objectives on climate, nature, public health, food security and a fair deal for farmers, and turns national ambition into local action.

We will be eagerly awaiting the Government's response to the Committee's report, and urging ministers to give food the central place it deserves.

Find out more about why we need a Good Food Bill.