London Sustainable Food Hub Opportunities for a sustainable food logistics centre in London

This report explores the potential for a London Sustainable Food Hub - a new centre to facilitate a more sustainable food supply for London.

The importance of the food industry in the UK has been recognised by the 'Sustainable Farming and Food Strategy'.

The food industry is:

• a major energy user (accounting for nearly 100 tera watt hours (TWh) each year, equivalent to about 11% of UK energy consumption by business) and a major contributor to UK carbon emissions (with 7.9 million tonnes of carbon per year)
• a major user of water, both from direct abstraction and use of the public water supply with a demand on the latter of about 430 megalitres per day, or 10% of all industrial use
• a significant source of waste generation (accounting for about 10% of the industrial and commercial waste stream) and of particular importance for certain priority waste streams, notably packaging
• a major employer, responsible for about 12% of the UK's workforce.