Climate change and food sustainability: overview
- Climate regulations require evidence-backed sustainability claims across food products
- EmpCo limits generic green claims and reduces greenwashing risks
- Companies are revising sustainability messaging to meet regulatory requirements
- Extreme heat is driving climate-adaptive food and beverage innovation
- Product development could help consumers manage climate change impacts
The way that food companies communicate sustainability messaging is changing.
Regulation is taking aim at ‘vague’ greenwashing claims, ensuring that any claims food companies do make is backed up by evidence.
Meanwhile, product development itself is beginning to respond to climate change, targeting the effects of extreme heat on consumers themselves.
The recent European heatwave, which devastated the continent’s agriculture, is also making climate change itself feel more real for consumers, suggests Thijs Geijer, sector economist for food and agriculture at ING Bank.
“With extreme weather events manifesting themselves so clearly, it becomes even more apparent that taking sustainability-related measures is not only beneficial for society but is also in the self-interest of companies, especially those in food which are relatively more exposed to climate-related risks.”
In other words, responding to climate change isn’t just about rhetoric. It is about survival.
Regulation is changing how claims are made
The introduction of the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition directive, known as EmpCo, is likely to change how food companies communicate their sustainability messaging.
The regulation, which became applicable last month, bans unsubstantiated, generic sustainability claims on new and existing products. The regulation aims to reduce greenwashing and prevent the industry from relying on vague language to convey its sustainability credentials.
“Brands that leaned on soft language now have to either certify it or drop it,” says Bella Ali-Khan, senior strategist at Catch a Fire agency. For the food industry, sustainability rhetoric is no longer enough – claims must be clearly backed up to be viable.
The regulation has led to companies changing or dropping claims, explains Geijer.
This may have looked like a rise in greenhushing, the practice of a company deliberately not making sustainability claims for fear that they could be perceived as greenwashing. Yet this may instead simply be a response to the regulation.
How food companies respond to climate change is clearly being pushed to move beyond rhetoric. This can also be seen in product development.
How climate could change product development
Sustainability has long been part of the agenda of food and beverage companies. This may soon be addressed by product development, suggests Jennifer Creevy, content director for food and drink at trend forecasting company WGSN, as consumers demand products that address their needs in hot weather.
“We are seeing hotter, more sustained periods across regions that previously weren’t as affected by the heat and that is creating clear consumer needs.”
In response, consumers will seek out cooling food and drink, she says, as well as food and drink that supports personal wellness and environmental resilience.
Products that can help the body adapt to climate-related stressors, ranging from hydration and thermoregulation to skin protection and immune support, are likely to do well, she forecasts.
The narrative around sustainability is changing. It is no longer easy for European food companies to make vague, unsubstantiated sustainability claims.
Yet with climate change having a more and more profound impact on consumers, promising to reduce this impact in the future is often not enough. Product development is increasingly helping consumers deal with its effects in the present.