Launch of the Roadmap for Scaling Impact Investment in Urban Food Systems 

Roadmap for Scaling Impact Investment in Urban Food Systems

After over a year of hosting the project’s Investors Living Lab, holding monthly meetings and exchanges, and exploring insights and experiences on impact investing in urban food systems, we are pleased to share the outcome of this work and to launch the Roadmap for Scaling Impact Investment in Urban Food Systems. 

The Roadmap addresses areas for expanded flows of investment for healthy and sustainable food systems in urban communities. It has been made for municipalities, investors, innovators, and small and medium enterprises across food value chains, to enable decisions that allow investments to support food systems transformation.  

One of the insights which emerged in the Lab is the need for sequencing of actions strategically, to catalyse the delivery of investment for impact. This Roadmap is a compendium of work on how to bring an investment perspective to urban food policy. It introduces the opportunities and the actions, illustrated by practical examples.

The Roadmap acts as a resource for municipalities and other urban food systems actors to integrate impact investment in food systems and policymaking, and enable investable opportunities as well as sustained partnerships.  

Please visit our project Resources for a dedicated page on the Investors Living Labincluding an overview of each Lab meeting and its accompanying Summary Brief, webinar recordings, the Roadmap, and information about future work. 

"What makes urban food systems transformation a smart investment? Pricing pressures from climate change and shock disruptions like the COVID pandemic or war in Ukraine, strain local and national economies, and make all investments more expensive and risky. Diet-related health costs deplete public resources for investment in innovation. Urban food policies can send a clear signal, align with national sustainable development strategies, and reduce market risks for everyone. By leveraging impact investment to drive urban food systems transformation, cities can support new business models that scale and achieve economy-wide reach, expanding overall value-creation—for investors, for stakeholders, and for whole societies."

Joe Robertson, Senior Advisor, Sustainable Finance, EAT Tweet

“The connections between impact investment and urban food policy are typically underdeveloped, both at the local level and within the financial sector. At the same time there is a positive, apparent value in having better connections between the two realms. The Investors Lab helped to create a better understanding of impact investment in urban food systems transformation and provided an outlook on the vast opportunities.”

Thom Achterbosch, Senior Researcher sustainable food systems, Wageningen University & Research Tweet

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all Investors Living Lab participants, including municipalities, innovators, researchers and investors, who shared their experiences, knowledge and priorities on the topic.

For more on the authors and contributors of the Roadmap, please see the Acknowledgements section of the document.

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