Helen Harwatt

• Environmental Science, BSc Honors, PhD
• Research Associate at Harvard University

There is a significant and growing interaction between the transport sector and the food sector as globalized markets continue to increase the demand for ‘food miles’ i.e. the number of miles a food item travels throughout its life cycle. The concept of ‘food miles’ has become interesting to the public and policy makers as a way to assess the relat...

A large-scale food system transformation is essential in mitigating a host of environmental crises, including climate change. Dietary shifts, particularly a reduction in animal-sourced foods (ASFs) in high-income countries, are a key pillar. These shifts risk stranding substantial ASF-related assets. ASF-focussed assets represent 78% of EU27+UK fix...

The European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy strongly influences the European Union’s food system via agricultural subsidies. Linking global physical input–output datasets with public subsidy data reveals that current allocation favours animal-based foods, which uses 82% of the European Union’s agricultural subsidies (38% directly and 44% for an...

In Press/Preprint This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review. It is currently undergoing copyediting and typesetting. Although final publication galleys will be added at a later stage, the article is fully citable using the DOI number. This scoping review examines environmental impacts related to food production a...

Assessing the environmental impacts of food, food systems and diets is highly complex due to the multitude of processes involved, the uncertainty in assessment models, the variability in production systems and the large range of products available. No single assessment method alone can provide a complete evidence base. The increasing number of Life...

Improving nutrition security in sub-Saharan Africa under increasing climate risks and population growth requires a strong and contextualized evidence base. Yet, to date, few studies have assessed climate-smart agriculture and nutrition security simultaneously. Here we use an integrated assessment framework (iFEED) to explore stakeholder-driven scen...

Climate change will put millions more people in Africa at risk of food and nutrition insecurity by 2050. Integrated assessments of food systems tend to be limited by either heavy reliance on models or a lack of information on food and nutrition security. Accordingly, we developed a novel integrated assessment framework that combines models with in-...

https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/2022-05/2022-05-24-sustainable-agriculture-benton-harwatt_3.pdf How to move towards sustainability in agriculture, and in food systems more generally, has become an ever more urgent topic of debate at international level. There is little or no consensus among policymakers on how this can be done. Pr...

The report describes the food system impacts on biodiversity loss at the global level and recommends three levers for food system transformation in support of nature.

Extensive land uses to meet dietary preferences incur a ‘carbon opportunity cost’ given the potential for carbon sequestration through ecosystem restoration. Here we map the magnitude of this opportunity, finding that shifts in global food production to plant-based diets by 2050 could lead to sequestration of 332–547 GtCO2, equivalent to 99–163% of...

The scientific consensus states CO2 emissions must be limited to 420 billion tonnes and approximately 720 billion tonnes of CO2 must be removed from the atmosphere to limit global warming to 1·5°C with 66% probability. Restoring natural vegetation, such as forest, is currently the best option at scale for removing CO2 from the atmosphere, and must...

Meat analogs have been proposed as a viable ‘lower carbon’ alternative to meats. However, data on the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from those products are limited. We performed partial (farm to factory gate) life cycle assessment (LCA) with Simapro 8.1 to calculate the GHG emissions from a wide range of meat analog products from three factories....

Strong and rapid greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, far beyond those currently committed to, are required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. This allows no sector to maintain business as usual practices, while application of the precautionary principle requires avoiding a reliance on negative emission technologies. Animal to plant-sou...

Shifting dietary patterns for environmental benefits has long been advocated. In relation to mitigating climate change, the debate has been more recent, with a growing interest from policy makers, academics, and society. Many researchers have highlighted the need for changes to food consumption in order to achieve the required greenhouse gas (GHG)...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) generated by the production of tofu. A partial life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed using SimaPro 8 software with a functional unit of 1 kg of packaged tofu and a farm to factory gate boundary. Original production data for the period of 1 year were obtained from a...

Animal products, particularly meat, are increasingly being questioned in terms of their role in an environmentally sustainable food system. Concurrently, there is a rising public consumption of meat analogs, largely driven by health concerns, with environmental concerns, taste and convenience also being important. Meat analogs are high‐protein, man...

Numerous climate change analyses have highlighted the role of food consumption in achieving the required greenhouse gas reductions. We quantify an idealized example of this role, the greenhouse gas reductions from exchanging one food for another. We calculated the greenhouse gas savings from replacing beef, a popular high carbon footprint food, wit...

Food systems must operate within environmental constraints to avoid disastrous consequences for the biosphere. Such constraints must also take into account nutritional quality and health outcomes. Given the intrinsic relationships between the environmental sciences and nutritional sciences, it is imperative that public health embraces environmental...

Introduction: Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) and health outcomes are both major consequences of dietary choices. Assessments of dietary patterns that vary in their content of plant and animal contents are emerging at the intersection of nutrition, environment and public health. Objectives: Compare the GHGEs associated with a variety of dietary pa...

Abstract Objective: To investigate the resource efficiency and environmental impacts of producing one kilogram of edible protein from two plant- and three animalprotein sources. Design: Primary source data were collected and applied to commodity production statistics to calculate the indices required to compare the environmental impact of producing...

OBJECTIVE: To compare the use of water, energy, pesticides and fertilizer to produce commodities for two dietary patterns that vary in the content of plant and animal products. DESIGN: A unique analysis using 'real-world' data was performed, in contrast to previous analyses which applied simulated data. Consumption data from the Adventist Health St...

Objective: To investigate the resource efficiency and environmental impacts of producing one kilogram of edible protein from two plant- and three animalprotein sources. Design: Primary source data were collected and applied to commodity production statistics to calculate the indices required to compare the environmental impact of producing 1 kg of...

Retrofitting existing housing stock to improve energy efficiency is often required to meet climate mitigation, public health and fuel poverty targets. Increasing uptake and effectiveness of retrofit schemes requires understanding of their impacts on householder attitudes and behaviours. This paper reports results of a survey of 500 Kirklees househo...

Background: Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) are a major consequence of our dietary choices. Assessments of plant-based compared with meat-based diets are emerging at the intersection of public health, environment, and nutrition. Objectives: The objective was to compare the GHGEs associated with dietary patterns consumed in a large population ac...

MIME is intended to support this approach through the development of a market-based trading scheme to limit the noise impact of aviation. The idea of controlling pollution by providing economic incentives has for example been realised with the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS). The intention of the MIME project is to develop a similar...

Purpose – To examine the potential for switching short trips in urban areas from cars to walking and cycling, and the possible contribution, this could make to a reduction in transport-related greenhouse gas emissions. Methods – Case studies in four urban areas combining a questionnaire survey, interviews with households and during journeys and in-...

Purpose: to examine the potential for switching short trips in urban areas from cars to walking and cycling, and the possible contribution this could make to a reduction in transport-related greenhouse gas emissions. Methods: case studies in four urban areas combining a questionnaire survey, interviews with households and during journeys, and in-de...

Increased walking and cycling for short journeys in urban areas has many obvious advantages yet so far gains from the promotion of more sustainable travel of this type are mostly small. This paper reports on a large research project which uses a mixed method approach to explore attitudes to and perceptions of walking and cycling, and which examines...

This research explored the possibility of achieving significant carbon reductions from personal land-based transport using London as a case study. A profile of carbon emissions from personal land-based transport modes was derived using Great Britain National Travel Survey (NTS) data and a range of carbon emissions factors. A carbon calculator provi...

Are companies embracing the transition to a low carbon economy? Is business practice keeping pace with the need for change? How can policy facilitate and enable? This paper reports on new research that provides an insight into business realities today, whilst looking ahead at potential low carbon pathways for 2020 with a focus on policy options. B...

Are companies embracing the opportunities to improve their energy efficiency and reduce their carbon footprints? Is business practice keeping pace with market opportunities, government targets and with the need for change? This policy briefing reports on new research that provides an insight into current business perspectives on investment in energ...

Cities are faced with a number of sustainability challenges in the context of climate change. There is an urgent need to limit greenhouse gas emissions from cities if ambitious mitigation targets are to be met. Meanwhile, cities are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change unless adaptation plans can be put in place. The need to connect climate...

Large reductions of greenhouse gas emissions are required in order to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Road transport is a significant contributor to UK CO2 emissions, with the majority arising from personal road transport. This paper analyses Personal Carbon Trading (PCT) as a potentially powerful climate change policy tool and presents...

This paper describes a 2 year research study looking at the understanding and attitudes of the general public to climate change and the links made between travel behaviour and climate change. 141 participants took part in five deliberative group discussion meetings, completed four one-week travel diaries and completed two psychographic questionnair...

Given the severity of the impacts arising from climate change and the short timeframe available regarding mitigation, it is imperative to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Road transport is a significant contributor to UK CO2 emissions, with the majority arising from personal road transport. A working model of a Tradable Carbon Permit (TCP) sch...