How to Transform From Degrowth to a Sustainable Food Approach

Degrowth advocates have long maintained that economic growth is harmful to the environment. Scientists now show that, in the food sector, slowing growth alone will not make our food system sustainable; rather, modifying what we eat and placing a price on carbon would.

A group led by the Potsdam Institute employed a quantitative food and land system model to assess the implications of degrowth and efficiency measures on greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural industry.

They discover that combining dietary changes, carbon pricing, and international income transfers might make the world's food supply emissions-neutral by the end of the twenty-first century, while also delivering healthier nourishment to a growing global population.

The transformation from degrowth to a sustainable food system

(Photo : YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images)

Simply reducing the scale of our present food system will not result in significant reductions in emissions.

Instead, we must change the basic nature of the global food system. Benjamin Bodirsky, author of the study and scientist at Potsdam and the World Vegetable Center in Tainan, Taiwan, as per ScienceDaily.

On the other hand, this implies that individuals consume what they need in terms of nutritional needs, reduce food waste, and eat a more balanced diet that includes a lot more vegetables and fewer animal products.

A qualitative revolution, on the other hand, involves more efficiency, and so producing food in a less polluting manner: wiser fertilizer dosing or growing higher-yielding crops.

Furthermore, carbon pricing might encourage farmers to adopt lower-emission farming techniques, because emitting less means paying less.

The models demonstrate that just slowing development in affluent nations will not result in significant long-term gains to the food system.

Within the existing development paradigm, financial transfers from higher- to lower-income nations may potentially increase emissions.

This is because carbon-intensive diet trends toward animal products and processed foods are most prominent as countries progress from low to medium income levels.

Read more: US and EU, World's Richest Nations, Have Plundered Natural Resources for Decades

The initiative prioritizes well-being to avert climatic catastrophe

A collection of economists, ecologists, and anthropologists are attempting to debunk a basic tenet of global economic policy: more is better.

The "degrowth" movement has gotten increased attention in the aftermath of the coronavirus epidemic, which happened last year at the same time as the greatest economic crisis since the 1930s, as per CNBC.

Nonetheless, while politicians prioritize economic recovery, academics support an approach that prioritizes social and environmental well-being above a system that chases unending economic expansion.

Degrowth would need civilizations to abandon the notion that the percentage change in GDP is an appropriate sign of success instead of learning to live better while generating less.

Giorgos Kallis, a key proponent of degrowth, told CNBC over the phone that the movement is a challenge to the assumption that economic growth is regarded as something positive and important. Instead, they believe it is a component of our current crises and challenges.

Importantly, the scientists indicate that a sustainable food system reform that considers all environmental costs would result in a modest rise in food prices, which would be felt most acutely by the poor.

Any reform must thus be complemented by a well-planned policy mix of clever taxation systems, social compensation for CO2 pricing, and international transfers.

Making agriculture more climate-friendly, for example, by limiting nitrogen fluxes in croplands, necessitates investment.

However, these expenditures are expected to be mitigated by the restoration of ecological services.

Related article: What is Environmental Sustainability in the Workplace