Study will test how shifts to healthier, sustainable diets could cut food-system emissions, signalling demand for advanced modelling and ESG expertise.
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The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is preparing a new research commission to examine how shifts towards sustainable, healthy diets could cut greenhouse gas emissions from the UK food system. Set out in a Prior Information Notice dated 11th February 2026, the plan highlights growing demand for advanced modelling and cross-sector expertise at the point where food policy, public health and climate commitments meet.
The research on sustainable diets will analyse how dietary transitions towards more sustainable and healthy eating patterns might reshape emissions from the UK food system. The notice frames this as part of the wider pathway to net zero, asking researchers to quantify the contribution that diet change could make alongside other decarbonisation measures. Rather than treating food consumption as fixed, the work will explore how different patterns of eating could alter the country's emissions profile.
The summary indicates that the research will rely on advanced modelling to capture the links between dietary patterns, supply chains and greenhouse gas outputs. Those models will be used to test a range of policy scenarios, so that officials can see how different combinations of interventions and behaviours might affect both the speed and scale of emissions reductions from food.
Collaboration with various sectors is presented as a core requirement. That points away from a purely desk-based exercise and towards a project that brings in perspectives from across the food system. Although the notice does not specify which organisations Defra expects to engage, it signals that the department wants evidence grounded in how policy choices would operate in real settings.
At this stage the available text offers only a high-level description: it does not set out preferred methodologies, contract length or value. Even so, the focus on dietary transitions, emissions and policy scenarios is enough to show that Defra is preparing to commission work with significant implications for food, climate and health strategies.
The emphasis on sophisticated modelling aligns this commission with a wider shift towards data-rich approaches to food-system policy. In October 2025, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published a contract notice for a Food Data Infrastructure Project, aiming to create a data sharing infrastructure for the UK agri-food system, establish an effective governance model, and pilot data sharing in selected supply chains. Together, these initiatives suggest that government now sees better data and modelling as prerequisites for food-system decarbonisation.
Other public bodies are investing in the underlying evidence base on diets and climate. In December 2025, Food Standards Scotland signalled plans for long-term dietary surveys using the Intake24 method, with a specific focus on ethnic minority groups and the environmental impact of diets. In November 2025, Fødevarestyrelsen sought proposals to calculate and compile an open list of generic climate footprints for food products based on the Danish market mix.
In January 2026, the European Commission's DG JRC - Joint Research Centre outlined a Sustainable Food Systems Modeling contract to map pathways for a sustainable and agroecological transition of food systems in Senegal, Kenya and Mozambique, bringing together modelling, stakeholder engagement and policy integration. In October 2025, SPF Santé Publique Sécurité de la Chaîne Alimentaire et Environnement issued a notice to update Belgium's narrative on the transition to climate neutrality by 2050, with a focus on material use and greenhouse gas emission sectors.
Against this backdrop, Defra's new study sits within a growing body of work that uses modelling and narrative tools to understand how food choices, production systems and wider resource use can support climate goals.
While the new project is framed around greenhouse gas emissions, it also explicitly targets sustainable and healthy diets, echoing a trend towards integrating health and environmental objectives. In November 2025, Wiltshire Council flagged plans for a healthy eating programme for schools, aiming to improve understanding of healthy lifestyles among children and families, with a focus on sustainability and alignment with Healthy School Award accreditation.
In December 2025, NHS England set out plans for Healthier You services, preparing to commission behavioural support for obesity and diabetes prevention through integrated care boards. And in January 2026, Flintshire County Council announced an online engagement event for a sustainable food system initiative to combat food poverty, focusing on affordable, nutritious food and reducing reliance on emergency aid.
Beyond the UK, diet-focused sustainability work is also gathering pace. In December 2025, Centre National Interprofessionnel de l'Economie Laitière (CNIEL) sought a communication agency for a multi-country programme on milk and sustainable diets, promoting milk production and consumption as part of sustainable diets and highlighting climate mitigation and animal welfare. In October 2025, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH launched a tender for a food system leadership ecosystem in Zambia, designed to strengthen leadership capacities through a trainee programme and network for transformative food-system change.
At farm level, the Cairngorms National Park Authority went to market in January 2026 for a regenerative farming support package, offering group training and tailored advice to farmers. Bringing changes in diets together with shifts in farming practices is likely to be an important theme for any comprehensive analysis of sustainable food-system pathways.
For potential suppliers, Defra's sustainable diets project underscores the premium now placed on integrated ESG expertise. The notice calls for advanced modelling, the ability to run multiple policy scenarios, and structured collaboration with diverse sectors. That combination favours teams that can blend quantitative analysis with policy literacy and stakeholder engagement across the food, health and climate spheres.
Recent procurement activity points to similar skill sets across related areas. In November 2025, the City of London Corporation issued a Prior Information Notice for an ESG and sustainability system, seeking a cloud-based platform to enhance visibility of cost, carbon usage and consumption and to support a net zero target. In August 2025, Essex County Council looked for providers of carbon management training for budget decision-makers, covering environmental responsibilities, legislation and sustainability practices.
The health sector is also embedding sustainability into day-to-day sourcing. In November 2025, Supply Chain Coordination Limited outlined a Fresh Food Framework for dairy, meat, produce and other products, with explicit accreditation and sustainability requirements for suppliers. Alongside Defra's research commission, these procurements indicate a market in which environmental performance, data and behavioural expertise are increasingly intertwined.
The Prior Information Notice on research into sustainable diets offers only a brief outline, but it indicates that dietary change is being examined as part of the UK's food-system decarbonisation strategy. The next steps will be worth watching for how far the eventual specification integrates health outcomes, social equity and farming practices alongside emissions, and for the kinds of partnerships sought to deliver the advanced modelling and cross-sector collaboration the notice describes.
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