A new briefing from The Food Foundation shows that that low-income households face a range of barriers in accessing and affording a climate-friendly diet.
The 24-page report says challenges include the relative price of plant foods (such as vegetables and plant-based alternatives) compared to animal source foods, and additional issues such as appliance and fuel poverty.
These are barriers, it warns, that make it harder for people living on low incomes to eat plant foods and achieve a sustainable, low carbon diet.
The report finds that plant-based meat and dairy alternatives currently come with a price premium (more sustainable plant-based alternatives to chicken, for example, are approximately 27% more expensive than chicken breast) while vegetables are expensive in comparison to animal foods, with fruit and vegetables costing an average of £11.79 per 1,000 calories compared to £8.00 for animal based foods.
If the UK government is to meet its Net Zero by 2050 target, says the Food Foundation, greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) from the food system will need to be reduced by shifting UK diets (so that they contain more plant foods and fewer animal foods) and reducing food waste.
In the UK, meat accounts for the largest proportion of GHGEs associated with diet (32%), with an additional 14% from dairy products, while post-farm gate food waste is estimated to contribute 25 million tonnes of CO2, which is equivalent to around 5% of the UK’s domestic GHGEs.
Although existing studies looking at average diets and modelling the required changes suggest that, in theory, low emission diets can be affordable, this latest briefing identifies that in practice such diets can be more expensive and inaccessible for low income households.
While vegetables and plant-based meat alternatives present various challenges for low-income households, the briefing highlights what it sees as the opportunities that pulses and legumes – such as beans, lentils and chickpeas – offer as cheaper protein alternatives to meat. It finds that that low levels of buying and consuming pulses are due to the poor availability of pulse-based food options as well as low levels of familiarity with and social acceptability of these products. Lack of familiarity, and the perceived difficulty of cooking with pulses are the main barriers to increased consumption rather than price, it suggests.
The Food Foundation has set out two key recommendations to encourage a shift away from animal source food and high levels of food waste.
1. Make low emission foods like vegetables and pulses more affordable, available and appealing by: Acknowledging the need to transition UK diets towards less meat and include this in the government’s Net Zero strategy; Strengthening government procurement rules for schools, hospitals, prisons and other public spaces; Promoting the production and increased consumption of fruits, vegetables and legumes, in part through supporting the UK horticulture sector; Introducing mandatory reporting (including food waste metrics) for large food businesses to de-risk business investment in healthy and sustainable food offerings.
2. Make meat and dairy plant-based alternatives more affordable, available and appealing, using Government and private business levers: Businesses and investors should improve and invest in the taste, and nutritional profile of plant-based meat alternatives; Government should use fiscal incentives to rebalance the cost of the basket – e.g. removing VAT from plant-based milk alternatives (meat and dairy are currently VAT exempt). Anna Taylor, executive director of The Food Foundation, said: “The window of opportunity for averting the worst impacts of climate change is closing rapidly. “If we have any chance of meeting the UK’s Net Zero target, which the government has committed in law to meet by 2050, we urgently need a strategy for supporting people to shift their diets towards more plant foods, with less meat and dairy. “Such diets need to be affordable and accessible for everyone, otherwise we risk sleepwalking into a food environment where more sustainable diets are the preserve only of the wealthy, with a widening of the already very steep dietary inequalities we see in the UK.”
Anna Taylor, executive director of The Food Foundation, said: “The window of opportunity for averting the worst impacts of climate change is closing rapidly.
“If we have any chance of meeting the UK’s Net Zero target, which the government has committed in law to meet by 2050, we urgently need a strategy for supporting people to shift their diets towards more plant foods, with less meat and dairy.
“Such diets need to be affordable and accessible for everyone, otherwise we risk sleepwalking into a food environment where more sustainable diets are the preserve only of the wealthy, with a widening of the already very steep dietary inequalities we see in the UK.”