Sustainability Compass

This compass is inspired by the “donut” imagined by British economist Kate Raworth to materialize the ecological limits that must not be exceeded, while guaranteeing the socio-economic conditions necessary for well-being.

Applied to agriculture and food, our Sustainability Compass highlights 15 issues. Seven of these represent ecological limits, such as climate and water quality. Thresholds are defined for each of them, which must not be exceeded or the stability of the system, and therefore the hospitality of the Earth, will be lost. Eight issues relate to socio-economic well-being, including human health and a decent standard of living. They are based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. To go beyond a purely anthropocentric vision of these fundamental needs, we have included animal welfare in this inner circle, in line with the IUCN World Declaration on the Rule of Law for the Environment and a growing number of international texts.

The 15 issues of food sustainability. Source: BASIC, 2022

Since its development in 2021, we have been using this compass as part of our analyses of the sustainability of agricultural sectors, as well as for our diagnoses of territorial food systems and their sustainability.

Behind the Sustainability Compass, we have developed a tool that links each issue to the various causes (also called “drivers”) likely to impact it. Drawing on state-of-the-art academic research, this tool enables us to trace what we call “causal paths”, and offers a systemic reading of ecological and socio-economic impacts. When we support a region in its food transition process, we work with its teams to identify the key indicators for each issue. The compass can also be used to project into the future by visualizing the evolution of certain indicators according to the scenarios chosen for the local food system (trend or more sustainable trajectory).