Meat & Sustainability A perspective on public attitudes to sustainable eating & specifically meat consumption

in the UK to 2025

13th June 2016

IntroductionWe have recently completed a futures project on behalf of World Meat Free Day to envision the culture of sustainability and its impact on the food that we eat in the UK in 2025.

The statistics referenced in this slidepresentation are taken from an ICMpoll of 2,000 adults (16+) conductedin the UK in February 2016.

To download a copy of the report, click here: http://www.slideshare.net/DissidentBiz/we-will-live-as-we-will-eat-62766219

Exec summary: The growing scale & influence of a group we have

labeled ‘Generation Moderation’ is likely to lead to a reduction in (per capita) meat consumption in the

UK over the next decade

Moderation is already the new normal

Our research suggests that culture of moderation already shaping people’s attitudes to meat, with third of the population claiming that they are actively choosing to eat less meat and 40% that they are eating less meat than they used to. ‘Generation Moderation’ tends to be female, married, spread across the age groups (except the over-65s), predominantly middle-class, more common in London/SE and less common in Scotland and the North. Even amongst the stereotypically carnivorous we appear to be witnessing a change in attitudes: for example, 37% of 16-24 year old males agree that ‘eating red meat is bad for you’.

Our forecastSignificant % of the population (25%+) likely to be actively moderating its meat consumption over next decade: 22% of adults claim that by 2025 ‘my diet will probably be mostly meat-free’ and 29% that ‘I will probably be eating less meat’. Excessive meat consumption will increasingly attract social disapproval: emerging sensitivity towards meat-eating excess, with 37% of 16-24 year old women wishing that their partner would’ eat less processed meat’ and a third of adults believing that ‘by 2025 good parents will generally not give hamburgers or sausages to their children.’

Closing the gap between interest & action (when it comes to meat consumption) is the single biggest challenge or

opportunity for those interested in sustainability.

Despite 54% of adults agreeing that ‘there is more that I personally could do to help protect the environment’, eating

less meat has yet to become an eco action for the population as a whole.When presented with list of individual

actions only 9% chose ‘eating less meat’, lower than a wide range of other actions: e.g. almost 3x as many selected ‘turning

off the tap when brushing your teeth’

Burden of responsibility for encouraging more sustainable

food culture seen by public to fall more emphatically on

supermarkets & government than individuals.

Economic recession – maybe even catalysed by BREXIT – could further undermine efforts to convince the wider public to prioritise sustainability when making their food choices.

‘Responsibility overload’: With so many competing instructions to change our behavior – eat more healthily, take more exercise,

reduce sugar, cut back on salt, drink less etc. - will sustainability

messages cut-through?

CLOSING THE GAP: WHAT FACTORS ARE LIKELY TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO EAT MORE SUSTAINABLY – WHICH WILL INCLUDE EATING LESS MEAT - OVER THE NEXT DECADE?

Encouraging more sustainable eating behaviour will require the

delivery of continuous, compelling and consistent messages to the public: partly about dramatising the dangers of excessive meat

consumption but mainly about how moderation is both easy and

increasingly fashionable.

Success of Meat Free Monday - which has become a global consumer movement – and growing popularity of World

Meat Free Day show what spirit of collective sacrifice can

achieve

Parents are obvious target for pro-sustainably campaigns: parents of

school-aged children are consistently more sensitive to

environmental and health issues than the wider population.

91% of the people we surveyed support idea that ‘Children should be taught to know which foods do

damage, by the way they are produced, to the environment’.

Celebrity food culture can also play an important role: 85% of people support idea of food programmes

on TV, which ‘show us how to cook in ways which respect the

environment’. Supermarkets, restaurants and

food manufacturers likely to respond positively to the emergence of ‘generation

moderation.’

Significant proportion of the British public appears willing to support the use of taxation to shape our

food choices: 40% agree that ‘unhealthy foods should be heavily taxed’ and significant percentage

of the population appears receptive to the idea of taxes on fast food, take-away meals and processed

meat.

In summary:Moderation is already the new normal and is set to become

dominant trend for the decade to come.

If the sustainability movement can jump on this bandwagon, the

benefits for our health and that of the planet will be significant.

For further information: hello@dissident.biz