Mandatory Business Reporting to Accelerate the Food Industry’s Transition to Healthy and Sustainable Food

A lack of basic, transparent data within the food industry is currently hindering progress towards healthy, just, and sustainable food systems. Businesses need good data to drive improvements in their own operations and supply chains, investors need good data to understand risks and opportunities related to the companies they invest in, and governments need good data to assess progress towards national targets. Establishing clear metrics that businesses are required to report against, transparently and publicly, will drive faster progress than we are currently seeing through voluntary initiatives. Our analysis shows that the areas where businesses are making most progress are those where there are already mandatory reporting requirements or public commitments by government to introduce new reporting requirements. This briefing recommends four approaches that the UK Government should take to strengthen business reporting requirements, and identifies which specific elements of policy on healthy and sustainable diets are applicable to each approach