Sustainability

Authors Peat Leith, Lynne Macdonald, Larelle McMillan, Michael Battaglia, Cathy Robinson, Heleen Kruger, Katie McRobert, Anwen Lovett, Robert Kancans, Chiara Pasut and Senani Karunaratne

Key points

• It is not yet possible to make definitive statements about the overall sustainability of Australia’s food system.
• Current indicators are patchy and provide limited insights into the sustainability of only some food system components – some of which are improving, while others are in decline.
• Disclosure reporting requirements have driven the development and uptake of environmental indicators for some aspects of sustainability such as greenhouse gas emissions.
• Other indicators are less developed, including social indicators of sustainability for equity and health.
• Future sustainability measures should consider interactions across scales (space and time), sectors and portfolios.

Citation

Leith P, Macdonald L, McMillan L, Battaglia M, Robinson C, Kruger H, McRobert K, Lovett A, Kancans R, Pasut C and Karunaratne S (2025) Insight 6: Sustainaibility. In: Nelson R, Lim-Camacho L and Robinson C (eds) Towards a state of the food system report for Australia. CSIRO, Australia.