Circular Economy for Food Initiative Brings Together Major Cities and Companies

At the EAT Forum in Stockholm, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation announced it will work with a community of participant cities, as well as companies including Danone, Mizkan, Nestlé, Novamont, Veolia, and Yara, to develop circular economy solutions to the problems of today’s food system.

In three flagship cities – London, New York, and São Paulo – the foundation will lead major food system projects to demonstrate how a circular economy vision for food can be achieved at scale. It is the first time cities and companies have come together in this way. The three-year initiative is supported by Philanthropic Partner Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Food production is responsible for almost a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, and mismanaged fertilization and manure exacerbate air pollution, contaminate soil and leach into water supplies, the initiators explain. These factors, and others associated with today’s food system, mean even when trying to make healthy choices, consumers are at risk.

Dr. Clementine Schouteden, Ellen MacArthur Foundation Food initiative lead, said: “By joining forces in this way, cities, and the businesses and people in them, can transform the global food system. We can grow food in ways that support ecosystems instead of damaging them. Food would be sourced locally, when it makes sense, and we would make the most of it, avoiding edible waste and using organic by-products to improve soil health. This is a unique opportunity to create a system which helps to tackle the climate crisis, restore biodiversity, improve human health, and reconnect people with their food, while creating new business opportunities.”

As set out in the foundation’s report “Cities and Circular Economy for Food”, the benefits of this approach include reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions by 4.3 billion tonnes of CO2 a year, the equivalent of taking one billion cars off the road permanently, and avoiding the degradation of 15 million hectares of arable land per year.