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Viktoria De Bourbon De Parme (left), Food and Agriculture Transformation lead, and Jenni Black (right), Nature Transformation Lead, both at the World Benchmarking Alliance, speak candidly about the food and agriculture industry's sustainability issue and urge companies to do more to go green.

The climate crisis is escalating. The growing number of heatwaves, floods and storms is putting the world at risk – and, simultaneously, crop failures in its major agricultural regions.

Despite a direct reliance on the planet to grow their produce, more than 90% of food and agriculture companies globally are not doing enough to adopt sustainable farming practices or increase the provision of healthy food.

Our latest research, which assesses 350 of the world’s major food and agriculture companies – including Bayer, Unilever and Walmart – revealed a concerning lack of commitment to reduce their environmental and social impacts. With the ecosystems on which we depend on the brink of irreversible tipping points, the vast majority of the world’s major food and agricultural companies are failing to act – presenting grave risks to their own business, people and planet.

Inaction is a major threat to these companies. Yet alarmingly, only 2% of them even understand and disclose their business’ wider impact on nature. Without this knowledge, how can we turn the situation around?

Giving the green light

Food and agriculture businesses have a huge opportunity. They are uniquely placed to drive the transition towards a greener, fairer and better world. By simultaneously tackling the climate emergency and biodiversity loss, they could set off a global ripple effect – stimulating wider action to protect and restore nature, improve human health and lift millions of people out of poverty.

We can celebrate some advancements across the sector; 46 companies have scope one and two greenhouse gas reduction targets in line with limiting global warming to 1.5C and report their progress, up from 27 companies in 2021.

However, food and agriculture companies still carry significant responsibility for two of the biggest ongoing drivers of environmental degradation: land use change and the exploitation of nature.

First and foremost, the sector must commit to ending deforestation. As agricultural expansion now accounts for 90% of global deforestation, food and agriculture companies have an essential role to play in saving the world’s forests. However, our research shows that only 6% of companies have a time-bound commitment to eliminating deforestation.

In terms of solutions, the idea of regenerative farming is thankfully gaining traction. Currently, almost half the world’s agricultural soils are degraded. Regenerative farming practices that work in harmony with nature – like reducing fertilisers and pesticides – are not only the best way to make these soils fertile again, but also how to boost wildlife populations, increase climate resilience, improve water management and enhance farm profitability.

Little is being done to reduce chemical inputs and water pollution. When it comes to soil health, only 9% of companies have disclosed data on optimising the use of fertilisers and just 4% have done so on minimising pesticide use. In terms of watercourses, only 12% of companies are reporting the level of pollutants they’re putting into them and just 2% have targets to reduce their pollution. Given that agriculture is responsible for 70% of global freshwater use, more companies must take action.

The way forward is to put people at the centre of the transition to a more sustainable way of doing things. This starts with the farmers on whom big businesses depend. The major food and beverage companies source commodities – like coffee, cocoa and palm oil – from around 75 million small-scale producers based in 40 low-and middle-income countries, in places where poverty tends to be a chronic issue. Encouragingly, 27% of companies strive to keep these farmers’ incomes stable through procurement and pricing practices. But they are still not paying them enough to lift them out of poverty.

Moreover, our data shows that there are very few plans for how to address this. Fewer than 4% of the companies we benchmarked assess how to bridge living income gaps. This has a knock-on effect environmentally, as impoverished farmers can’t afford to introduce sustainable farming methods.

More can be done

Companies also need to do much more to meet the needs of the consumers they serve. Presently, nutritious products still come at a premium price. With a third of the global population suffering from malnutrition, our benchmarks show that less than one in five (18%) of consumer-facing companies share how they are adapting products to improve their nutritional quality.

Food companies have an urgent responsibility to help prevent the even greater food insecurity that comes with the climate emergency.

There’s no more time to waste. The food and agriculture sector must take urgent, decisive action. Its priorities should be protecting the environment and feeding the world healthily and equitably.