How can councils use advertising rules and food-buying policies to help fight climate change?
Quick-read summary
In the UK, food and drink contributes to over one third of greenhouse gas emissions. The food and drinks advertised to us, and the made available to us, can shape what we choose to eat and drink.
Local authorities (councils) are well placed to encourage more sustainable diets through the food they buy for council-run sites such as schools and events, or the adverts they allow on council-owned spaces.
Until now, no one had looked across England to see how many councils have actually developed policies on climate-friendly food advertising and procurement, or what those policies contain.
Researchers searched every council website in England, and used Google and other databases, looking for any publicly available document about food advertising or food procurement (food buying and provision) that mentioned environmental or climate impacts.
They found that very few councils had this kind of policy.Out of 317 councils in England, five had an advertising policy and 23 had a procurement policy.
The policies varied a lot in what they covered, and most were not mandatory.The most common actions were buying food locally and offering more plant-based food options at council-run meetings.
The researchers recommend that councils that don’t yet have a climate-friendly food advertising or procurement policy are encouraged to use their unique and important position in local policymaking by introducing such policies that are consistent with their stance on climate change.
At a national level, the findings suggest that clearer government standards for climate-friendly food advertising and procurement could help councils write stronger, more consistent and more enforceable policies, rather than each council having to start from scratch.
This is the first study to map climate-friendly food advertising and procurement policies across English local government, including early-stage documents like draft policies and meeting motions, not just approved, adopted policies.
Who is this evidence useful for?
Local authority officers working on food, climate action, food procurement, advertising, catering or public health; national policymakers; and organisations that campaign for sustainable food systems.
More about the research
Food and drink production is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, with meat and dairy having particularly big environmental footprints.
Local councils in England have the power to shape which food and drinks are advertised on council-owned spaces like bus shelters and billboards, and which food is purchased and served at council-run sites such as leisure centres and schools, and at council-run events.
We wanted to find out how many councils in England have used these powers in advertising and procurement to develop ‘climate-friendly’ food policies, and what those policies actually say.
We did we do?
We carried out a systematic review of publicly available documents. This involved:
- Searching the websites of all 317 councils in England, plus Google and other relevant sources, for any document (policy, meeting report, motion, guidance) about food advertising or food buying that mentioned climate or environmental goals.
- Including documents published from 2014 onwards, at any stage of development, not just fully approved policies.
- Independently checking and extracting information from each document.
Key findings
- Only 5 Local Authorities had a publicly available climate-friendly food advertising policy, and 23 had a climate-friendly food procurement policy.
- The most common food-buying actions were sourcing food locally (written in council contracts), increasing the amount of plant-based food offered at council-run events/meetings, and requiring contracted providers to meet standards or accreditations (e.g. for meat, dairy and fish)
- Very few policies specifically restricted the advertising or buying of meat and dairy products for climate reasons.
- The most ambitious of these, a motion put forward by North Devon Council which proposed to restrict the advertisement of meat and dairy products, was not successful following a council vote.
- Of 167 specific food-buying actions we found, only 19 were compulsory (‘must’ or ‘mandatory’). The rest used softer language like ‘where possible’ or ‘aim to’.
- Most councils gave little detail on how the policy should be implemented and how they would check whether the policy was being followed.
Why is this important?
Over 270 councils in England have declared a climate emergency, but very few have translated this into concrete climate-friendly food advertising or buying policies.
Our findings show that where policies do exist, they are patchy, mostly voluntary, and rarely focus on the foods (like meat and dairy) that have the biggest climate impact.
This suggests that national government guidance or standards could help councils develop stronger, more consistent policies, and support the ones that want to act but lack the time or expertise to do so.
Recommendations for policy and practice
- Councils that don’t yet have a climate-friendly food advertising or procurement policy are encouraged to use their unique and important position in local policymaking by introducing such policies that are consistent with their stance on climate change.
- At a national level, our findings suggest that clearer government standards for climate-friendly food advertising and procurement could help councils write stronger, more consistent and more enforceable policies, rather than each council having to start from scratch.
Find out more
Read the full research paper
Read the Expert Comment blog from Oxford University about this work
Acknowledgements
This review was supported by The Wellcome Trust (SHIFT (Sustainable Healthy Interventions for Food Transition) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North East and North Cumbria (NENC).
It was also supported by Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming, and the University of Oxford (Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences and Nuffield Department of Population Health).
For more information, please contact lead researcher Dr Mackenzie Fong.