Exnovation in food systems' sustainability transformation: analysis across supply chains in G20 countries

Abstract

Food systems face interlinked social-ecological challenges and so require urgent transformation. Innovation remains purported as the main approach to sustainability transformation, while less attention is given to exnovation, which represents the deliberate termination of unsustainable technologies, business models or systems. We use a food systems approach to investigate exnovation across supply chains focusing on G20 countries. Our results show that while exnovation is present in sustainability ambitions, it rarely translates into interventions. Most exnovation tackles environmental challenges rather than socio-economic and health issues. Exnovation interventions tend to rely on regulatory instruments, mainly target substances or products, and focus on production stages that shift the burden to farmers. Very few exnovation interventions included justice considerations. To promote (or reduce resistance to) change, we argue for greater shared responsibility across the supply chain. Overall, exnovation remains fragmented and unstructured: food system transformations could be strengthened with systemic exnovation.