Unveiling food systems impacts with systemic approaches: the role of life cycle thinking to support evidence-based policymaking

The current food system confronts multiple sustainability challenges, including environmental degradation, food insecurity, and socioeconomic inequalities, which are driving humanity beyond a safe operational space. Tackling the complexity of these interconnected issues necessitates a systemic approach to identify key entry points for transformative change within food systems. This research investigates how systemic approaches can contribute to sustainable food systems transformation in Europe and the Mediterranean, focusing on the interaction between policy, science, and society. A systematic scoping review underscores the crucial role of science-policy interfaces in guiding food systems towards global sustainability goals while emphasising the need for a unified vision of sustainability. A sustainability assessment of carbon farming practices in the Mediterranean, employing Life Cycle Assessment, environmental Life Cycle Costing, and social Life Cycle Assessment, demonstrates these practices’ potential to enhance soil quality, biodiversity, and farmers' profitability, but also the necessity of policy support for adoption and equitable benefit distribution. Finally, a Life Cycle Assessment and environmental Life Cycle Costing combined with a policy foresight analysis on the future uptake of non-conventional water resources in the Mediterranean suggests that water reuse can alleviate water scarcity; yet its effective adoption requires technological improvements, financial incentives and targeted communication to raise public awareness and address perceived risks. This research contributes to advancing a systemic approach to the transformation of sustainable food systems, accentuating the need for integrated policy, scientific, and societal actions to achieve a more sustainable and equitable food system.