SCP

Sustainable Consumption and Production

The FISS embraces Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP). The central challenge of SCP is to break the link between economic growth and environmental impacts. In achieving this goal industrial sectors can overcome the absolute limits to the Earth’s capacity to absorb pollution and provide natural resources. The lifecycle impacts of the contents of an average food shopping trolley are an important place to start such analysis.

This type of analysis can be achieved using standard food purchasing statistics and the development of environmental labelling methods will also provide a means to estimate the environmental impacts of food and drink products. The Green Guides in the UK provide overviews of SCP outlooks across industrial sectors in the UK.

What drives consumer purchases (IGD data from from Defra FISS 2006) is an important component of managing SCP. The factors that drive purchase by consumers to choose specific products in terms of % of respondents are as follows:

• Organic: 9%
• Quality marks: 10%
• Country of origin: 11%
• Free from....: 13%
• Convenience: 17%
• Appearance: 37%
• Healthy: 41%
• Brand: 42%
• Sell by date: 52%
• Taste: 55%

The contribution that consumers can make to achieving sustainable food production though their purchasing decisions is large. Suggesting that shorter supply chains, provided they remain logistically efficient, can cut transport emissions considerably.