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Investigating the global impact of some of the nation’s favourite foods

Investigating the global impact of some of the nation’s favourite foods to promote ‘SDG friendly’ consumer behaviours for individual and societal wellbeing.

3 October 2020

Grant


Grant: Grand Challenges Special Initiatives - SDG
Year awarded: 2020-21
Amount awarded: £4,038 (+ £4,038)

Academics


  • Abbie Chapman, Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research
  • Charlie Outhwaite, Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research

Outputs and Impacts


  • 4-day virtual Hackathon brought together international collaborators to discusses methods for comparing the relative impacts of food crops on the natural environment. The Hackathon resulted in several sub-groups, each one taking forward a different approach to quantifying and comparing the impacts of the main ingredients in a popular snack.
  • Investigated the global environmental impacts associated with the major ingredients of digestive biscuits (wheat, oil palm, cocoa, and sugar) and the country-specific impacts of these to threatened species and biodiversity.
  • The collaborative research highlighted the tradeoffs between the foods consumed in the UK and the need to conserve biodiversity across the world (SDG 15 Life on Land). Journal article forthcoming.
  • UCL Global case study: Looking at the biodiversity impact of biscuits.