The role of European public and private foreign accountability in transformations towards sustainable food systems

Changing current food systems have been identified as having an important role to achieve the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda, as sustainability transformations of food systems are not only affecting ecosystems and food availability but also are believed to enhance social justice and human well-being and can be linked to all the Sustainable Development Goals. This presentation takes its point of departure in a European and specifically a Swedish context, a high-income region and country with a consumption that generates large environmental footprints, depends on a high share of food imports, and a specific responsibility to work towards achieving the 2030 Agenda. In 2020 the European Union launched the Farm to Fork Strategy as a vital part of the European Union’s Green Deal, recognising the need of more sustainable food systems and declaring itself a global leader in setting standards for sustainable food production and consumption. A new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is soon to be implemented in the European Union, a policy that should be aligned with the Farm to Fork Strategy and the Sustainable Development Goals. Considering these developments, to study foreign accountability in food systems in this context is highly relevant. Drawing on results from several studies, this presentation aims to contribute to increased understanding of food system transformations towards sustainability, identifying levers of change and implications for food and sustainability policies. To do so the following questions will be asked: - How and to what extent do Swedish and European policies address foreign accountability with respect to European food production and consumption and their environmental footprints? - What roles, responsibilities, and agencies are assigned to different food system actors in Swedish and European policies and how do they relate to foreign accountability? These questions will be explored by analysing European and Swedish policies and documents relevant for food systems (e.g. the Common Agricultural Policy, the Farm to Fork Strategy, the EU Green Deal and associated documents, the Swedish National Food Strategy, government reports). The results will be discussed in relation to the European ambition to set a global standard for sustainable food production and consumption and to employ sustainable food production as a tool for increased European competitiveness. Spatial scales and complex linkages of today’s highly globalised and telecoupled food systems are exemplified by phosphorus fertilizers use in Brazilian soybean production to problematise and discuss the role of foreign accountability in food system transformations towards sustainability.