“Accelerating action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the food value chain” was the title of the recently organised policy workshop by the ENOUGH project. The event brought together key voices from industry, research, and the European Commission to share recommendations, policy insights, and innovative solutions for food system decarbonisation.
The event started with insights from representatives of the European Commission (DG CLIMA, DG Agri, DG JRC). Topics included the new EC strategy “Clean industrial deal”, contributions of EU-funded projects in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the food industry and EU food system monitoring framework.
The next session was filled with perspectives and priorities from the industry. The French Food Federation ANIA described major challenges currently faced by the French food industry, such as fragmentations, prices, energy demands and sources. To successfully reduce emissions, they underlined that coordinated efforts are needed in R&D, financial support and regulatory measures. The National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) described key drivers and priorities for research on food and processing. Food loss and waste was mentioned, among others, as an important area to focus on, mentioning logistics, cold chain and packaging as key connections. The Global Cold Chain Alliance (CCCA) presented the importance of the global cold chain and strategies for a sustainable future, providing practical industry examples from transport and warehouses. Flanders’ FOOD introduced Rethink Energy 4 Food, a project aiming to accelerate the energy transition in the Flemish food industry. The project consists of a knowledge platform and the four focus tracks electrification, heat supply, energy resilience, and innovative cooling.
The third session included results and recommendations from major EU projects. The SISTERS Project presented main innovations addressing food waste in several stages of the food value chain, including short chain platforms, bio-based packaging, dynamic labelling and smart containers and labels. From the ENOUGH project, main recommendations from the technology roadmaps were presented per industrial sector (dairy, meat, fruits & vegetables). The link between theoretical roadmaps and practical insights from the 21 demonstrators of ENOUGH was described. In addition, a presentation summarising the policy briefs and recommendations from ENOUGH and the food working group of the Green Deal Support Office was given. The TITAN project explained how they work towards a more transparent and sustainable food system through pilots addressing health and food safety, sustainability, and transparency and traceability. The ZeroW project presented their work towards enabling a just transition to near-zero food loss and waste through systemic innovations living labs and policy pathways. Lastly, ClieNFarms described how they are supporting the transition to climate-neutral and climate-resilient European farming through scaling approaches, policy and EU-level collaboration.
The closing remarks were provided by the Policy officer appointed by the European Commission to follow the ENOUGH project. He highlighted the importance of communicating research and innovation outcomes to policymakers, and emphasized that the implementation of demonstration activities can inspire actors across the food sector to take action.
Thank you to all presenters and audience for making such an inspiring day!
The presentations can be downloaded here
Project coordinator Kristina N. Widell (SINTEF Ocean) welcomed the participants and introduced the seminar.
Ianna Dantas presented findings from the policy side of ENOUGH, including policy briefs and recommendations from ENOUGH and the food working group of the Green Deal Support Office.
Judith Evans (LSBU) explained main findings from the technology roadmaps developed in ENOUGH, and its relation to the ENOUGH demonstrators.
Edward Sliwinski (EFFoST) presented TITAN, a project closely linked to ENOUGH.
