The conventional food production is associated with negative impacts on the environment, such as biodiversity loss, water pollution and the emission of climate-damaging greenhouse gases. In addition, the consumption patterns of Western societies have far-reaching health implications; among them the increase in coronary heart disease, obesity, and colorectal cancer.

A growing world population, changing dietary habits of the emerging middle class in emerging economies and global and national environmental and climate goals require the food system to become more sustainable . In addition to technical solutions, social and institutional innovations are essential to achieve this goal.

As part of the project "Social-ecological transformation of the food system - exploring environmental policy intervention possibilities on the basis of current findings of transformation research" the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) aims at gaining knowledge about novel political intervention options in the food system and broadening the debate in transformation science by examining the example of the transformation of the food system.

The consortium of NAHhaft e.V., the Environmental Policy Research Centre of the FU-Berlin, and the Chair of Sustainability Governance of the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität (ALU), Freiburg, will

1. Use the insights from transformation research to analyze the transformation field of the food system and thus identify policy intervention options
2.  Use findings from the analysis of the transformation field of food systems to advance the general scientific debate on sustainability transformation and research in further transformation fields.