4.7.3. FDBs Concerning Environmental Impact of Foods

Generally speaking, current food systems are operating out of planetary boundaries, with agriculture being a top driver for biodiversity loss, using water above the natural capacity of replenishment, causing soil degradation, pollution, and more [49,50]. The urge of the food systems' transformation is such that, among many initiatives, the UN organised a food system summit in 2021 (https://www.un.org/en/food-systems-summit accessed on 17 August 2021), available online at the data of this publication and the European Union issued a climate law that binds the EU Institutions and the Member States to take the necessary measures to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. On the other hand, a growing awareness from consumers about the impact of their individual food choices in their health and the environment has been registered [51]. Shifts in food habits may fuel the desired changes, but the commitment of food producers is key. Business pledges need to be underpinned in well-established targets and robust metrics fed with comprehensive information on the food–environment nexus. Despite the still existing gaps, efforts in compiling information are many, and advancements of FDBs in integrating data on the environmental footprint of foods are to be expected.

In respect to the 2030 agenda, the Sustainable Development Report, by Sachs et al., [52] provides interactive dashboards with visual representation of performances by SDGs to identify priorities for action. One of such priorities is tackling food loss and waste for which the FAO maintains a database in connection to tools to track progress, available online at the date of this publication, http://www.fao.org/platform-food-loss-waste/ flw-data/en/ (accessed on 17 August 2021). The food loss and waste database contains data and information from various sources, measuring food loss and waste across food products, stages of the value chain, and geographical areas, also presenting underlying causes, according to the literature [53].

Only a few FDBs present datasets on the environmental footprint of foods or are useful for its assessment. One of them is 'Experimental Foods' from USDA (see Section 4.1) that contains information on environmental inputs and outputs on the supply chains, etc.; however, it is not necessarily publicly available [15]. A dataset on food environmental impacts through producers and consumers was published by Poore and Nemecek in 2018 [54]. The ADEME (the French Agency for Ecological Transition) recently launched Agribalyse, a food database providing an environmental score (Ecoscore) for 2500 food products based on their life cycle analysis (LCA). However, this database has already been criticized, notably by institutions promoting organic agriculture, for favouring intensive farming systems and not taking into account the consequences on biodiversity, animal well-being, or the impact of pesticides [55]. More generally, LCA, on which Agribalyse is primarily based, has already been questioned for being unsuitable for comparing farming systems. Thus, an improvement of such a tool would be necessary to inform public policies [56].
