Food Sustainability Index 2021: Just 28 of 78 countries are prioritising agriculture in their international climate commitments
- Media Manager
- Jan 24, 2022
- 1 min read
The Economist Group
Published: January 24th, 2022
Photo Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain
Produced by Economist Impact with the support of the Barilla Foundation, the Food Sustainability Index (FSI) assesses the food-system sustainability of 78 countries according to three pillars: food loss and waste, sustainable agriculture, and nutritional challenges. The 2021 edition, the index’s fourth iteration since 2016, shows that Sweden, Japan, Canada, Finland and Austria have the most sustainable food systems in the world.
Despite food waste being a global issue, just 28% of countries in the entire FSI have a dedicated food waste strategy. Within the food loss and waste pillar, the top five performing countries include Canada, Italy, Germany, Japan and the Netherlands. Food loss among the top 20 performers is just 3% of total food production compared to the FSI average of 6%. Household food waste is also below the FSI average of 85kg per head per year in all but 2 of these 20 countries. 17 of the 20, however, can still make better use of food waste legislation, market-based instruments and voluntary agreements in a complementary way.
