Government food strategy proposals ‘do not go far enough’, say top investors
A group of top investors representing £6tn in assets have slammed the government’s response to the national food strategy today and called for mandatory health and sustainability reporting in the UK.
Government this week responded to a landmark review of the country’s food systems set out by founder of healthy fast-food chain Leon, Henry Dimbleby, last year, in a bid to tackle obesity and improve health.
But a group of 23 investors, including Legal & General Investment Management and Nomura Asset Management, said today they were “disappointed” by the “low aspirations” of the proposals and they “do not go far enough”.
“The UK Government should insist on mandatory not voluntary reporting mechanisms,” the group said today.
“Voluntary schemes potentially lead to weaker reporting standards and potentially inconsistent metrics, making it difficult to compare and track progress both between businesses and across the industry.”
Mandatory reporting would help investors understand the direct and systemic risks companies face, the investors said.
Sophie Lawrence, stewardship and engagement lead at Rathbone Greenbank Investments, the original investor leading the coalition, said it will be pushing for this commitment to be more ambitious.
“There are many risks and opportunities facing the food sector which are linked to issues such as health and nutrition and environmental impacts,” she added.
“We also recognise the urgent need to improve health outcomes and address rising food insecurity and inequality, and we cannot drive change in our portfolios without consistent, high quality and meaningful information on the nutritional and environmental performance of companies.”
Government’s response to the plans were criticised by Henry Dimbleby, who said the omission of recommendations for a tax on unhealthy foods and said the response was not detailed enough to be called a strategy.
“They’ve now implemented more than 50% of what I recommended, but it hasn’t been done with one vision across the whole system,” he told the BBC.