VOM – insentiver til Virkemidler for Omstilling av Matsystemet

Emissions of greenhouse gases must be reduced drastically and rapidly to keep the climate goals in the Paris Agreement within reach. The food system is an important source of emissions, with a major impact on land use, biodiversity and health. In collaboration with actors in the food sector, the VOM (Measures for Food system Transition) project 1) explores the potential for increased plant-based production, 2) analyzes drivers for consumption choices, procurement and incentives for sustainable business models, 3) explores sustainable business innovations and market opportunities, and 4) analyzes the food system's transition effects, conflicts and risks, and works for greater coherence in policy and incentives for transition. Since project initiation in 2021, the project group in VOM has started with growth trials of faba beans in greenhouses. An analysis and report on the climate impact of public food- and beverage procurement, in collaboration with the PLATON project, will be published in December. A study is being carried out on Norwegian consumers' attitudes to sustainability and Norwegian business development of online food platforms. A taste panel has started with a taste comparison of animal and plant-based dairy drinks, and a review paper on sustainable business models for agri-food companies is being developed in collaboration with the Swedish partner RISE. RISE also works with mapping foreign companies that succeed with plant-based products that can produced in Norway. Furthermore, the closely follow the new government's work on the climate plan and food-related promises at COP26. The project's 2 PhD students in WP2 and WP4 are well underway with following courses, planning of collaboration with user partner Oda.no (WP2) and writing the first paper (WP4). Furthermore, there are 3 MSc students and 1 Postdoc who have been engaged in the work on WP1 and WP2. The start-up and dissemination work in the project has been formidable: a little over half a year along the way, a total of 65 articles, interviews, podcasts, instagram blogs, presentations and panel debates by the various research and user partners have been registered. The project is thus well on track with the planned activities.

Emissions of greenhouse gases must be drastically and rapidly reduced to keep the Paris Agreement climate targets within reach. The food system is a major source of emissions, with large impacts on land-use, biodiversity and health. We know to a great extent what we can do, but VOM will study how to support a shift towards a sustainable low emission food system by identifying the potential and barriers for changes in demand, production and innovation, and incentives that could realistically remove those barriers and realize the potentials. We will meet this objective by 1) investigating the potentials for more plant-based production, 2) analyzing drivers for consumption choices, procurement, and incentives for sustainable business models; 3) exploring sustainable business innovations and market opportunities; 4) analyzing food system transition sustainability impacts, conflicts and risks, and working towards greater policy coherence and incentives for transition; and 5) targeted and diverse communication. VOM will actively work with food system actors well positioned to contribute to a transition towards low-emissions sustainability, innovations and sustainable incentives and solutions. The proposal responds to several national and international policy and sector goals on food production, emission reductions, health and SDGs (3,8,12,13), thus ensuring potential uptake of knowledge in strategies, actions and consumer choices. VOM will use a multitude of qualitative and quantitative methods, experiments, communication and co-designed techniques reflective of its multidisciplinarity and connect to many synergy projects to promote sustainable action and changes in incentive structures to better align business and national food-climate policies. The team consists of 8 research partners (7 Norwegian, 1 international), 4 Norwegian food industry partners and innovators, 4 national networks/platforms and NGOs, and 4 advisory board partners from policy making and academia.