When capital meets carrots: can finance drive a sustainable food revolution?

The project, "Capitalising on Transformation: A Recipe for Sustainable Food Systems," launches at a critical moment. Global food systems currently contribute a third of greenhouse gas emissions while facing intensifying pressures from climate change, corporate consolidation, and inequitable resource distribution. 

Meanwhile, the United Nations estimates a staggering £350 billion annual funding gap in meeting climate and food security targets by 2030.

Transforming food production

Dr. Truzaar Dordi, lead UK researcher and lecturer in sustainability management at York's Department of Environment and Geography, explained: "Our current food system relies heavily on fossil fuels and intensive farming practices that threaten both environmental and social sustainability.

"While financial markets are often seen as part of the problem, they may also hold the key to transforming how we produce and consume food."

Mapping ownership networks

The research builds on Dordi's previous work identifying how just ten financial institutions control significant voting power over fossil fuel emissions. Now, his team is applying this lens to agriculture - mapping the ownership networks behind everyday food products and examining how institutional investors could leverage their influence to reform practices around pesticide use, emissions, and labor conditions. 

The timing couldn't be more relevant. With the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive taking effect in 2025, the project aims to provide practitioners and policymakers with concrete tools for aligning private capital with sustainability goals.

Supporting alternative models

This isn't about vilifying asset managers, Dr Dordi explained: "We're investigating how the same financial infrastructure currently funding degradation could be redirected to support regenerative systems - if we can redesign the incentives."

The ‘Open Research Area’ grant, funded in part by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), unites experts from four countries: political economist Dr. Phoebe Stephens (Canada), agrarian studies scholar Prof. Sarah Ruth Sippel (Germany), and financial modeling specialist Dr. Alain Naef (France). Together, they're building a transdisciplinary team of systems thinkers and data analysts to examine how shareholder activism, investment patterns, and policy frameworks interact to either entrench unsustainable practices or enable positive change.

Complex relationships

The University of York team is expanding to meet these ambitious goals, seeking an innovative research associate to tease out the complex relationships between financial actors, corporate power, and sustainability in food systems.

Dr Dordi added: "We need systems thinkers who can see how capital markets directly impact food security and biodiversity. This is an opportunity to help reshape how finance influences our food future."

Shaping policy

The three-year project will deliver practical recommendations for policymakers and investors while advancing academic understanding of how financial markets can support sustainability transitions.

Through a combination of sophisticated data analysis, case studies, and stakeholder engagement, the research aims to identify actionable pathways for leveraging financial systems to create more sustainable and equitable food futures.