Time to transform? Sustainability narratives for European food systems (2025)

The unsustainable nature of prevailing food systems contributes to drive humanity out of a safe operating space. Despite recognising the need for food systems transformation, its direction diverges into different sustainability narratives and conflicting objectives resulting in disjoint policy agendas and problem definitions. While few studies compared and identified gaps and trade-offs in food systems frameworks, systematic reviews for conceptualising sustainable food systems remain scarce. Focusing on the European context, we investigated how academics framed sustainability narratives and their role in advancing Sustainable Development Goals targets, exploring lock-ins and leverage points for food system transformation. By conducting a PRISMA systematic scoping review and analysing 94 documents, we found disparities in current research with socio-economic and cross-cutting aspects comparatively overlooked to environmental and health ones. Linking sustainability objectives to 55 SDG targets we demonstrated their potential contributions to sustainable development by addressing systemic conceptualisations and acknowledging trade-offs. We identified lack of vision and coordination among stakeholders and institutional framework shortcomings as barriers to change. Analysis of leverage points suggested stakeholder engagement and system transparency as pivotal for transformation. Last, we draw concrete implications for science and policy agendas to shape a food systems transformation grounded in a shared sustainability paradigm forged through collaborative efforts among scientific, policy, and societal domains.

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