Fixing the Business of Food: Aligning Food Company Practices with the SDGs

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Four Pillar Framework, UN SDGs, food sector companies, climate change, food systems, sustainability performance and practices

JEL Classification: I1, I15, I18, I32, I38, Q00, Q01, Q02, Q12, Q13, Q14, Q18, Q22, Q28, Q52, Q53, Q54, Q58