Co-producing pathways for a sustainable and just food system transition in Sweden

Negative environmental impacts of food production, consumption and waste must be reduced to reach global environmental goals.

However, due to complex interconnections between food system elements, efforts to reduce food-related environmental impacts could create negative consequences or exacerbate existing unjust outcomes elsewhere in the system.

To create food system transitions that deliver on multiple sustainability goals and distribute the costs and benefits of change in a fair way, a justice approach is needed.

A just transition for food systems is an urgent and deliberate effort to deliver better outcomes for society, nature and the climate.

This research aims to explore, in dialogue with food system actors, how a just transition to sustainable Swedish food systems could unfold.

Based on the nascent just food transition field, this research will analyze past and current Swedish food policies to assess food-related inequalities and unjust impacts across social-ecological systems.

Using the X-curve framework, policy pathways for a sustainable, just food system transition in Sweden will be co-produced in dialogue with diverse food system actors and societal groups. Findings can inform ongoing Swedish food policy development and stakeholder action.

Comparison with a just food transition assessment in Finland will provide opportunities for knowledge and policy transfer and help fill the evidence gap concerning international empirical comparisons of just food transitions.