Calling on All Companies to Promote Better Nutrition - This year has taught us that the challenges we face across our food systems are interrelated – the climate crisis, loss of nature, rampant inequality – and cannot be tackled in isolation. Creative and holistic solutions proposed by governments, businesses, UN agencies, donors, and civil society leaders at local, national, and global scales will drive a more sustainable and equitable future – and today is the time to act. This was clearly seen at the first UN Food System Summit (UNFSS) which was held on 23 September.
Widespread undernutrition and malnutrition are fundamentally linked to climate change and loss of nature and are greatly exacerbated by disparities in access to healthy foods. The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified the importance of nutrition; people with chronic diet-related illnesses are more likely to suffer the most severe consequences of COVID-19 and global efforts to reduce malnutrition and hunger have largely stalled as resources have been diverted to tackle the pandemic. Many households suffer from loss of income and additional food sources, such as school meals for children, leading to increased hunger. The number of malnourished people rose to about 768 million in 2020, which is 10 percent of the world's population, and an increase of 118 million from the previous year.
Nutrition deserves renewed focus and attention by world leaders, and with the Year of Nutrition Action ending in just a few months, now is the time for all leaders to step up.
The Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Tokyo 2021 Summit on 7 and 8 December, is a new opportunity to bring resources, creative solutions, and collaborations to the global challenge of malnutrition. While we urge all food system stakeholders to fight against malnutrition and work to end it in all its forms by 2030, we call on business leaders – from companies large and small – to bring in new resources, transform business models, and collaborate with governments. and other stakeholders to accelerate global progress in nutrition.
The World Benchmarking Alliance recently published its first ranked index of food and agriculture companies on four themes: governance, environment, social inclusion, and nutrition. The index shows that overall, companies should do more on nutrition. This is also confirmed by the ATNI Global Index 2021. The company has the resources, technological know-how, marketing expertise, and capacity to tackle these issues and care for the world.
Building on UNFSS momentum, the N4G Summit mobilized nutrition commitments to 'drive greater action to end malnutrition and help ensure everyone, everywhere can reach their full potential.' We call on all companies to make commitments as part of this year's summit. Companies can demonstrate their leadership on this critical issue through:
Sign up for the Responsible Business Pledge for Better Nutrition and make three SMART commitments in line with the N4G Commitment Making Guidelines, as well as make a public statement on how the company will make nutrition a top priority. Commitments can be linked to topics such as reformulation, nutrition-smart agriculture, responsible marketing, promoting healthy eating, and more.
Join the Workforce Nutrition Alliance and dedicate time and resources to implementing workforce nutrition recommendations.
The relevance of nutrition as an important Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issue is also increasing in the investment community. More than 70 investors, representing USD $16.1 trillion in assets under management support Investor Expectations on Nutrition, Diet, and Health and recognize the shared benefits for investors, businesses, and society in taking nutrition-related action. This investor coalition will deliver pledges during the coalition N4G Summit to encourage food and beverage companies to minimize business risks and impacts associated with global nutrition challenges, and take advantage of associated opportunities to increase investor returns and social outcomes.
All nutrition commitments made this year for the UNFSS or N4G Summit must be registered with the Nutrition Accountability Framework by December 8, 2021, to enable tracking and monitoring over time.
We strongly urge business leaders to take action today.