Hidden costs
Authors Cecile Godde, Fentahun Abebe, Javier Navarro and Steven Lord
Key points
- The hidden costs of Australia’s food system range from $98 billion to $274 billion in net present value terms.
- Australia’s food system has the highest per capita hidden costs in the world.
- Hidden costs include animal welfare and human health, loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, greenhouse gas emissions, pollution and degradation of water, air and soil resources, as well as food waste, food insecurity and malnutrition.
- Estimating the hidden costs of Australia’s food system provides an opportunity to manage and avoid them.
- Taking ambitious steps to address the hidden costs of Australia’s food system could reduce these costs significantly and help retain access to future true-cost sensitive global markets.