Redirecting investment for a global food system that is sustainable and promotes healthy diets
More and better quality private sector investment in food systems will be needed for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Recent developments in food systems have resulted in new challenges and controversies, both with respect to their sustainability, and the extent to which they are contributing to diets that are more nutritious. The key challenge addressed in this brief is how to redirect investment such that it is both adequate to drive dynamic food system development and has the quality of promoting inclusive and sustainable systems. Three areas of action are considered: instruments that translate growing consumer awareness into SDG compliant investment; instruments that encourage investment in food systems in highrisk contexts; and improvements to food system governance. It is suggested that the G20 (i) acts to strengthen global platforms for the benchmarking and coordination of private sector sustainability initiatives; (ii) provides support to the coordinated implementation of voluntary guidelines to foster SDG-compliant investment in higher risk contexts; and (iii) promotes greater coordination between multilateral fora to strengthen the global governance of complex and interlinked food system challenges.
