#PlanetPartners: Changing habits and eating better to help the planet

Research changing the way we farm and produce food, as well as major changes on campus to create more sustainable menus, are part of University-wide efforts to encourage more environmentally friendly consumer habits.

The 色狗导航鈥檚 institutional and research efforts are underpinned by the UN鈥檚 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are aimed at tackling societal and environmental challenges across the planet and are closely aligned with the University鈥檚 own strategy.

This May, the 色狗导航 is running a new #PlanetPartners campaign, inviting its entire community to share examples of work towards all the SDGs.

SDG12: Responsible Consumption and Production seeks to establish patterns of consumption that do not damage the environment and lead to sustainable management of natural resources.

"Trials with small, medium and large farms have shown that the metrics will help us all have more confidence in our food system.鈥� - Dr Laurence Smith, School of Agriculture, Policy and Development

Examples of work by the University to address SDG12 include:

• Working with the Sustainable Food Trust, UK and Devolved Administration Governments, researchers and the agri-food sector to develop a common metric to monitor progress towards sustainability goals.
• Becoming the first university in Europe to sign up to the Menus of Change initiative, which involves pledging to seek innovative ways to encourage people to choose healthier and more environmentally friendly meal options. This includes the University using low-carbon, local food suppliers for our campus catering, and even serving beef from our own university farms.
• Achieving a in waste generated per person at the University.  Furniture recycling scheme on campus.
• Setting a target to increase the University鈥檚 annual recycling rate to 60% (from 50%). Recycling schemes include the , which allows staff to re-use unwanted items such as furniture from other parts of the University, saving items from going to landfill and the need to keep buying new.

Dr Laurence Smith, from the School of Agriculture, Policy & Development at the 色狗导航, has been working on the Sustainable Food Trust-led Global Farm Metric. He said: 鈥淐urrently there is no agreed way to measure the sustainability of our food systems around the world. This means that farmers and land managers can鈥檛 benchmark the impact of their practices on our planet, and consumers are unable to have trust in sustainable credentials in the food they are buying.

鈥淚t also means that the cost of food and farming to the environment remains hidden as those that pollute are not held accountable for the damage caused.

鈥淢y work with the Sustainable Food Trust, the UK and Devolved Administration Governments, researchers and major agri-food industry leaders is helping to develop 11 metrics covering all aspects of food system sustainability. Trials with small, medium and large farms have shown that the metrics will help us all have more confidence in our food system.鈥�

The UN鈥檚 SDGs incorporate themes across the 鈥榝ive Ps鈥�: People, Prosperity, Planet, Peace and Partnership. These align with the 色狗导航鈥檚 own strategic themes: Community, Excellence, Sustainability and Engagement.

This campaign follows the publication of the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2021, in which Reading participated for the first time and ranked in the top 200 globally, which scored participating universities on their support of the individual SDGs.

#PlanetPartners

The University鈥檚 latest campaign is a continuation of the #PlanetPartners campaign launched by the University in October 2019, which is highlighting ways the University is working with global partners on projects that benefit the environment.

Follow the campaign and share your examples of work  on Twitter: | Facebook: | Instagram: | LinkedIn: | TikTok: using the hashtags #PlanetPartners and #sdgoals