Establishing a sustainable food system that delivers food security: a SWOT analysis of the European Green Deal

Aleksandra Kowalska

Chapter 15 in Handbook on Economic Growth and the Environment, 2026, pp 349-367 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: About 98 million food-insecure people live in Northern America and Europe. The European Green Deal (EGD) affects six food security dimensions (availability, accessibility, utilization, stability, sustainability, agency). The aim of this chapter is to assess EGD with a view to ensuring food security for all. Using a SWOT methodology, this chapter evaluates the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of EGD regarding providing food security. The major EGD strength is enhancing biodiversity, which increases agricultural productivity, reduces chemical inputs, and underpins a diversified diet. However, reducing agrochemical inputs may cause the European Union's (EU) dependence on the importation of grains. The EU Common Agricultural Policy supports EGD and contributes to reducing trade-offs related thereto. Food security risks include pandemics, political conflicts, climate change events, and misinformation. Building trust and increasing resilience to food shocks are vital to the EGD's success. The EU uses its trade policy to disseminate its norms to the world through EGD.

Keywords: European Green Deal; Sustainable Food System; Food Security; SWOT Analysis; Socioeconomic Trade-offs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035322589
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