Coming Together to Fix Food

Welcome to the Annual Gathering of the Extended EAT Family. And welcome to the city of Stockholm.

10 months ago, just a short subway ride from here, a young girl walked out of school and over to the Swedish parliament. With her, she had a hand-made poster, stating “School Strike for Climate”. Her name is Greta Thunberg. She says: “What is the point of learning facts, when the most important facts clearly mean nothing to our society?”. Greta claims that we, the generations before her, are stealing her future.

These past months, teens from all around the world have joined her cause, as she has addressed leaders at COP, Davos and the EU. Greta from Stockholm has become the face of one of the biggest environmental movements to date. There have been school strikes in more than 150 countries, and three weeks ago, millions of kids walked out of their classrooms, demanding not just hope, but real change.

And here we are, in Greta’s back yard; 1,000 grown-ups, from more than 80 countries. Most of us flew in by plane. I know, the potential impact of leaders gathering can by far outweigh the emissions it takes to get here. But only if we keep asking ourselves: What do we make out of this?

This year, we have never been in a better position to join forces and scale up efforts. We now have the first scientific targets for how to get it right on food, for both people and planet. That means, we can finally start to align actions, not based on trends, or ideologies or whatever that most likely will gain consensus, but based on the best available evidence.

The EAT-Lancet outlines a safe operating space at the global level, but does not give us answers for each country, culture or ecosystem. Nor the specific pathways to get there. That is why we, together with our partners, have ignited science-based dialogs across the globe.

In Ethiopia, we’ve listened to African Union leaders, striving to shift strategies from ‘enough food’ to ‘enough quality food’. In Mexico, we’ve listened to consumers, calling on industry and government to change their unhealthy food environment. In France, we’ve listened to NGOs stressing how all transitions must be socially just. We’ve listened to smallholder farmers and ranch owners, entrepreneurs, investors, mayors, chefs and kids on strike! And now, here in Stockholm, we want to hear from you!