Abstract
Food is an essential part of our daily lives, but simultaneously, it is a major contributor to environmental issues. The growing world population and changing diets are expected to further exacerbate the negative impact of food production and consumption. This article explores how sufficiency business strategies, focused on moderating consumption levels, can be implemented in the food industry to curb demand and thereby overall resource consumption. First, a literature and practice review are conducted to create a conceptual framework for sufficiency business strategies in the food industry. Second, a case study approach is taken to explore the application of sufficiency strategies at Oatly, a company offering plant-based alternatives to dairy. Semi-structured interviews and review of the company’s sustainability reports are used as key data sources for the case study. This study contributes to research and practice with a novel framework for business sufficiency strategies in the food industry. Although sufficiency implies consumption moderation, it is suggested that when a company substitutes the consumption of a less sustainable option, growth could be desirable. Future research can expand on viable sufficiency strategies for the private sector, but also strategies to engage different stakeholders, such as government, society, and academia, to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable food system.
Highlights
The growing global population and the impact that human activity has had on the ecological, meteorological, and geological systems of the planet have created the Anthropocene, i.e., the ‘geological era of humanity’ ([1], p. 1704)
Following the conceptual framework for sufficiency business strategies in the food industry that resulted from the literature and practice review of this research, the case company (i.e., Oatly) was found to implement nine of the 14 strategies in some way (i.e., Creating new revenue models; Offering quality local products; Applying conscious sales and marketing techniques; Educating and engaging consumers; Implementing choice architecture; Shortening ingredient list; Designing products for sustainable consumption; Developing products that last; and Repurposing food)
Because I had the feeling that I need to get down with processes – how do I know that everyone is working with sustainability? Tony is more like: ‘No, you need to make sure that everyone has an engagement and it will come naturally, the starting point must be that they understand the value of what they are doing on the sustainability part’
Summary
The growing global population and the impact that human activity has had on the ecological, meteorological, and geological systems of the planet have created the Anthropocene, i.e., the ‘geological era of humanity’ ([1], p. 1704). This has led to an urgent need to address the detrimental environmental impact that results from a global economic system fueled by continuous (over)consumption. Sustainability initiatives led by the private sector have mainly focused on upstream approaches (e.g., eco-efficiency) and have contributed to curbing the negative impacts of production and consumption to some extent, but often lead to rebound effects in which increased efficiency results in more consumption [3]. This creates a vicious cycle in which consumption drives growth, while growth and technological progress drive consumption. Companies are increasingly facing a need to innovate their business models from a downstream perspective [4]
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