Cutting-Edge Data Leadership and Industry Contributions

Since 2021, Foodsteps has been a core data contributor to Hestia, a leading open-access platform for agricultural sustainability data. Through various WWF and UK government-funded research initiatives (including LED4Food), we have contributed a significant share of the platform’s harmonised environmental data, with a focus on animal and plant-based protein commodities. Alongside this, we have worked closely with the HESTIA team to refine and improve their environmental impact modelling for complex animal production systems.

Foodsteps was contracted by WRAP to both deliver and provide strategic advisory services across various aspects of LED4Food, a Defra-funded project designed to enhance the quality and availability of environmental impact data and build a shared, trustworthy methodology for the entire food industry.

Through this work, Foodsteps expanded and refined secondary environmental impact data for food products using HESTIA. This data has been integrated into WRAP’s newly released Food Environmental Impact Database (FEID), making it easily accessible for industry use.

Foodsteps partnered with EIT Food (previously Foundation Earth) to support the delivery of PEF-aligned environmental impact assessments for food and drink products using EIT Food’s Farm to Fork methodology. Members of the Foodsteps Science Team served on the Methodology Review Taskforce for the EIT Food (LCA) methodology.

The Food Data Transparency Partnership (FDTP) is a partnership between the UK government, industry, and experts to improve the environmental sustainability and health of food and drink through better data. Joe Duncan-Duggal, Foodsteps' Chief Scientific Officer, sat on the FDTP's Data Sources Task & Finish Group as the sole technology provider representative. This group brought together academics and industry experts to support the FDTP in considering different approaches to deliver consistent, transparent, and accessible secondary environmental impact data for food. Recommendations included: 1) Developing a data quality framework, 2) Integrating primary data into secondary datasets, and 3) Developing an open-access database. These recommendations were integrated into the scope of the Defra-funded LED4Food project.

Since 2021, Foodsteps has partnered with WWF across a range of projects to improve access to data on the environmental and health impacts of novel and widely consumed foods within the UK. On one project, Foodsteps supported the improved quality and availability of environmental impacts for key UK import commodities, proteins, and multi-ingredient foods using the HESTIA platform. As a result of Foodsteps' work, WWF published novel, publicly-available datasets on the above product groups as well as a report on the UK’s protein footprint and the characteristics of sustainable protein.

Commissioned by WRAP, Foodsteps delivered a definitive scientific overhaul of the WRAP Scope 3 agri-food emissions database, transforming it into an audit-ready industry benchmark. Through a rigorous peer review, Foodsteps eliminated low-quality data, restructured data frameworks to accurately isolate land-use change emissions, and harmonised all metrics to point-of-sale units for seamless comparison. By aligning key product categories with the GHG Protocol Land Sector and Removals Draft Guidance, and donating high-fidelity UK data from Foodsteps’ Database, Foodsteps elevated the scientific rigour, compliance, and real-world utility of public data on the impacts of food consumed in the UK.

Joe Duncan-Duggal, Foodsteps' Chief Scientific Officer, sits on the Carbon Removals Taskforce. Through this partnership, Foodsteps will contribute to the discussion on scaling carbon removals accounting, and engaging the UK government on a future carbon removals framework.