Sustainable development
The Agency's remit is to protect the interests of consumers in relation to food, now and in the future. In doing so the Agency will take sustainable development into account in all of its activities and policy decisions.
What is sustainable development?
Sustainable development is about enabling people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life, without compromising the quality of life of future generations and the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
The concept of sustainable development encompasses three key elements, often referred to as 'pillars':
- social progress
- environmental protection
- prudent use of natural resources and economic growth and employment
Sustainable practices should offer benefits in all three of these areas.
Policy making
The Food Standards Agency’s remit is to protect the interests of consumers in relation to food, both now and in the future. In doing so, the Agency will take sustainable development into account in all of its activities and policy decisions.
The Agency is committed to sustainable policies and undertakes to choose the most sustainable policy option. Only in exceptional circumstances will it not do so. In these cases the reasons will be clearly communicated and every effort made to minimise the resulting negative impacts. This is explained further in our ‘Sustainable development in policy making: statement of approach’ (see below).
Sustainable Development Action Plan (SDAP)
The UK Government's sustainable development strategy, ‘Securing the Future’, requires all central Government departments and their executive agencies to produce sustainable development action plans (SDAPs) and to report on and update them regularly. The Agency’s objectives and sustainable development have been set in the Agency's ‘Sustainable Development Action Plan’ (see below).
Estate and operations
The Agency is committed to carbon reduction, energy efficiency and recycling. All activities on the Agency’s estate must comply with departmental and cross-government policies on sustainable development. Delivering a sustainable estate means adopting an approach to our work that respects all three elements of the sustainable development agenda – economic, social and environmental. This is explained further in our ‘Environmental Statement’ (see below).
Contact us
To find out more about sustainable development in Agency policy making, contact Karen Dell on 020 7276 8481.
Email: karen.dell@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk
To find out more about sustainable development on the Agency’s estate, contact Aadil Bashir on 020 7276 8001.
Email: aadil.bashir@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk
Related links
(pdf 41KB) (pdf 173KB) (pdf 32KB)Find out more
Sustainable development and the Agency's business
In running its business the Food Standards Agency is committed to pursuing sound environmental practices and is working towards the implementation of an Environmental Management System based on the ISO14001 standard.
Sustainable development and the UK Government
The UK Government is committed to integrating sustainable development principles into all of its activities and policies.
Consumer priorities for sustainable development
This research was commissioned to explore consumer interest in relation to sustainability issues around food and to help inform the debate on the Agency’s approach to sustainable development in policymaking.