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IBFAN – International Baby Food Action Network
Health & Environmental Impacts
COP 29
29th Conference of the Parties
– Baku, Azerbaijan, 2024
Greenfeeding (Ecofeeding) means healthy local and sustainable Food. Greenfeeding starts with Breastfeeding which has a positive impact on our climate and environment.
The core message of our advocacy as a global NGO is ‘In every journey it is the first step that counts. Greenfeeding from birth is the very first step in the right direction, to protect the health of populations and the planet.’
What is the Greenfeeding campaign?
Greenfeeding is an advocacy campaign prepared by IBFAN, GIFA and Canadian partners. It is aimed at decision-makers, parents, young people and care-givers. The objective is to raise awareness of the need to take action from birth to safeguard the health of humans and our environment:
- Greenfeeding recognises breastfeeding as a sustainable and valuable natural resource that has no negative impact on our environment: no scarce resources are used, no pollution is caused by transport, no garbage is produced by packaging, and expenditure on health costs to treat disease is reduced.
- Breastfeeding is under serious threat from commercial practices and urgently needs to be protected, promoted and supported.
- Greenfeeding includes the introduction, after six months of age, of complementary foods that are safe and nutritious, and produced using local products and sustainable agriculture.
Breastfeeding is unprocessed local food
Breastfeeding contributes to the prevention of global warming, protects biodiversity and conserves natural resources. Greenfeeding includes community support for exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and the addition of appropriate complementary foods for older babies. In contrast to ultraprocessed foods (UPF) like formula and artificial baby milks, breastmilk is unprocessed, unpackaged, healthy local food.
The Importance of protecting breastfeeding
Community support can be undermined by the marketing and promotion of ultra-processed foods. Hence the importance of the International Code that protects consumers and families.
What about baby foods?
After 6 months, baby eats first foods. Families should be allowed to make feeding decisions free from commercial pressures: for babies, toddlers and young children. Sustained breastfeeding needs support for as long as the family wants. Breastmilk continues to be precious sources of nutrition, especially when complemented by safe and nutritious family foods, locally produced using sustainable agriculture. Home-prepared family foods are minimally processed so offer value for money. Sustainable local agriculture provides foods that are biodiverse, reliable, and culturally appropriate. Community support can be undermined by marketing and promotion of ultra-processed foods. This is the reason the International Code of Marketing is crucial.
What about UPFs?
Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are a risk for our health and have major impacts on the environment. Giving formula in comparison to breastfeeding is giving UPFs to our children.
- Check our News post. Consumption of ultra-processed food products (UPFs) is associated with excess weight gain, serving as a precursor to non-communicable diseases NCDs.
- Ultra-processed food consumption and adult obesity risk: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis – Moradi et al (2021)
This article calls for a policy that halts rising trend of consumption and restricts marketing as well as warning labels on UPFs. - Unseen dangers of UPFs (20 pages)
- Ultra-processed people – Why do we all eat stuff that isn’t food… and why can’t we stop? – Chris van Tulleken (2023)
Key documents on Greenfeeding issues
Select the title and click the button to get more information and download the document.
Climate action from birth
Greenfeeding – Ecofeeding
(2023)
In this advocacy document the authors aim to show how the subject of Greenfeeding of infants and young children can support the growing worldwide movement for climate action by school children, parents and the public. At the same time, we aim to further the policy initiatives of Green parties and political parties with green priorities.
Click here to download
(updated Dec 8, 2023)
Green Feeding for Climate Action
– Climate Emergency
(2019)
We are no longer talking about global warming but instead about global heating. We no longer refer to climate change, but instead to the climate emergency and the urgency to take action.
Click here to download
(Green Feeding Trailer, in English, 2 pages (Nov 18, 2019) – has to be updated
Green Feeding
– KEY MESSAGES
(2019)
This advocacy document is the result of a collaborative effort by Penny van Esterik and Alison Linnecar with the assistance of Britta Boutry and Rebecca Norton. We have all benefitted from on-going discussions with breastfeeding and climate change activists, but these are not official publications which have been reviewed and approved by all interested parties. They are intended as starting points to encourage other individuals and groups to integrate Green Feeding into their ongoing advocacy work on climate change.
Click here to download
in English, 2 pages (Dec 2, 2019) has to be updated
Infant Feeding, the Environment and Climate Change: Green Parties and Green Feeding in Canada
(June 2019)
The purpose of this document is to show how the case of infant feeding could further the policy initiatives of the Green party in Ontario and Canada. In the next few months, there will be an additional document relevant to the Green parties in the European Union (EU); this might provide useful policy comparisons for Canadian Greens to consider.
Click here to download
in English, 10 pages (June 20, 2019) has to be updated
Why invest? – The environmental costs of not breastfeeding
(LANCET, 2016)
Despite its established benefits, breastfeeding is no longer a norm in many communities. Multifactorial determinants of breastfeeding need supportive measures at many levels, from legal and policy directives to social attitudes and values, women’s work and employment conditions, and health-care services to enable women to breastfeed. When relevant interventions are delivered adequately, breastfeeding practices are responsive and can improve rapidly. The best outcomes are achieved when interventions are implemented concurrently through several channels.
Click to access the article
(Rollins et al, Lancet 2016)
Extinction Rebellion flyer on Breastfeeding
– Green Feeding
(2019)
#GreenFeeding
for Mother Earth.
Lack of support for breastfeeding
hurts our planet
Click here to download
(Dec 2, 2019)
Formula For Disaster
– Weighing the Impact of Formula Feeding vs Breastfeeding on Environment
(2015)
This paper attempts to gather scientific evidence that Tdemonstrates how breastfeeding contributes to our healthy lives and environment. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child also affirms the contribution of breastfeeding for the health of mothers and children. Breastmilk is neither industrially manufactured nor ultra-processed. Breastfeeding keeps the environment unharmed.
Click here to download
(updated 2015)
Background – historical overview about the ecological footprint of formula
For more references, see the list in the Greenfeeding document 2023.
2024 – WPHN Congress
GIFA-IBFAN participates in the World Public Health and Nutrition Congress in London (June 2024). Our contribution here (8′ video)
2023: Greenfeeding – Ecofeeding – climate action from birth – IBFAN-GIFA-WBTi (may, 2023)
2023: World Nutrition – Greenfeeding-an urgent environmental and public health issue!
Britta Boutry-Stadelmann, PhD, IBCLC, GIFA-IBFAN consultant, LLL leader, WBTi coordinator, corresponding author: bst.boutry@gmail.com
Alison Margaret Linnecar, Convenor, IBFAN working group on Environment, Climate and Health, MA (Cantab.) Cert. Soc Anth. (Cantab.)
Greenfeeding – or Ecofeeding – stands for eating healthy, sustainable, and ecologically friendly foods, as opposed to ultra-processed foods. As food production has an important share in greenhouse gases and climate change, greenfeeding in « World Nutrition » needs our full attention.In fact, breastfeeding is gaining momentum as greenfeeding, with its numerous advantages compared to formula feeding.
GIFA authored a commentary in the « World Nutrition » Journal’s June edition about the considerable negative impact of formula on the environment: World Nutrition, commentary Boutry-Stadelmann & Linnecar 2023
See also our Newspost .
2023: Launch of the Green Feeding Tool
– June 5th, 2023
Launch of the Greenfeeding Tool (GFT) by Australian National University (ANU), Julie Smith and collegues, to measure the global ecological impact of commercial milk formula (CMF). The downloadable tool calculates the carbon and water footprints of countries’ different infant feeding practices. It shows the environmental gains from policy scenarios that enable women and infants to exclusively breastfeed for the first six months.
The Launch Event Recording GIFA made a short presentation about the historical background of the idea that breastfeeding is ecological. List of documents, see links under Background – historical overview about ecological footprint of formula.
2023 March: World Breastfeeding Conference (WBC4), Alison Linnecar presents Green Feeding and biodiversity in Cairo (Egypte). See under “Events” further down
2022: Mother’s milk tool: Valuing breastfeeding, Dr. Julie Smith and team.
“Money is the language of policymakers. Counting human milk production in food and economic statistics will assist in better policy decision-making and investments in women’s unpaid care work. The Mothers’ Milk Tool quantifies the volume of breastmilk and value of breastfeeding at national and global levels, as well as how much is lost if country environments and policies, or healthcare, work and community settings do not enable women’s and children’s rights to breastfeeding.” Article about the tool in FRONTIERS
2022: Environmental Impact of Feeding with Infant Formula in Comparison with Breastfeeding, Andresen CA et al.
2021: Climate Change and Infant Nutrition: Estimates of Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Milk Formula Sold in Selected Asia Pacific Countries The first peer reviewed article about the ecological impact of formula (CMF commercial milk formula). Dadhich JP, Smith J, Iellamo A, Suleiman A.
2021: Infant feeding and the energy transition: A comparison between decarbonising breastmilk substitutes with renewable gas and achieving the global nutrition target for breastfeeding. Long A et al
2020: World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) was dedicated to Support Breastfeeding for a healthier Planet See also World Breastfeeding Week and WABA Action Folder 2020 here.
2020: Powdered Baby Formula Sold in North America: Assessing the Environmental Impact, Cadwell K et al.
2019 Nov: World Breastfeeding Conference (WBC3), Alison Linnecar presents Greenfeeding, Breastfeeding, climate action from birth, in Rio de Janeiro. See other presentations further down on this page
2019: Dr Julie Smith, A commentary on the carbon footprint of milk formula. The 2015 IBFAN report estimated the GHG emissions from manufacturing 1 kg of infant or toddler milk to be around 4 kg of CO2 eq.; this was a partial estimate of the product’s lifecycle, and excluded carbon footprints at retail and household use stages. We have to take into account all externalities.
2019: Joffe N, Webster F, Shenker N. BMJ Support for breastfeeding is an environmental imperative (2 October 2019)
2018: Casserla C. (2018). No One is Talking about the Environmental Impacts of the Baby Formula Industry. Published by Science as Fact, in editorial section of Science Alert.
IBFAN does, since 30 years!
2018: New Zealand Priority Actions for Climate Health 2018: Promote breast-feeding and plant-based diets to support both human and planetary health.
2015, IBFAN-GIFA published the brochure on Climate Change and Health advocating breastfeeding as an eco-bio-logical way to protect both our health and the health of our planet, especially in times of crisis. Downloads available also in French , Spanish , Russian , Italian on IBFAN website
- Breastfeeding is the first step in protecting human health in the short and long term.
- Breastfeeding is the first step towards protecting the environment and preserving the planet and resources
- Breastfeeding helps to save lives and relieve suffering in crisis and shortage situations that are arising as a result of climate change.
2015: Dadhich J et al. published Carbon Footprint due to Milk Formula. A study from selected countries of the Asia Pacific region.
2014: IBFAN published ‘Formula For Disaster’. Weighing the Impact of Formula Feeding Vs Breastfeeding on Environment’. This report was updated in 2015 and is available in English, Italian and French as Alimentation artificielle – désastre écologique, it compares in detail the ecological impact of breastfeeding on the one hand, and industrial infant feeding on the other. The comparison between the two methods of feeding relates to the use of the planet’s resources (energy, metals, plastics, fuels, water and wood). While artificial feeding depletes the planet’s resources and has a heavy carbon and water footprint, breastfeeding saves energy and water and promotes not only improved maternal and child health, but also the better health of the planet.
2012: at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), IBFAN-GIFA prepared a poster on the theme of “The Earth is our Mother” in collaboration with WABA (World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action). Download poster and text : English-Spanish-Portuguese , French
1997: WABA declared the theme for World Breastfeedin Week (WBW) as “Breastfeeding – Nature’s Way” and underpined the ecological benefits of breastfeeding. In 2020, this was even more relevant and the theme was “Support Breastfeeding for a healthier planet”.
1992: UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro: IBFAN “Ecological Impact of Bottle-feeding”
1989: Alison Linnecar published a paper that shows the importance of breastfeeding for ecology and alerts about the environmental impact of infant formula and the risk of contamination by bacteria, by aluminium lead etc. Breastfeedjing-Ecology with love
Events
that led to public attention
WBC4 – World Breastfeeding Conference (2023)
IBFAN’s Call to Action from Cairo WBC 2023. As a renewable, resilient practice that provides food, care and immune support and prevents malnutrition in all its forms, breastfeeding also contributes to the early prevention of violence and the development of more environmentally friendly attitudes, behaviors and consumption.- See also Alison Linnecar’s presentation on Breastfeeding and biodiversity.
COP 27 – Conference on Climate Change (2022)
As world leaders meet in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt for the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (Cop 27), IBFAN is calling for restrictions on the global production and trade of ultra-processed (UPFs) plastic-wrapped and additive-laden products. While many nutrition campaigns have focused on excess sugar, salt and fat, less attention has been paid to the industrial food processing that extends product life for global trade, denatures food ingredients and has had a disastrous impact on human health and the environment. The latest analysis shows that UPF consumption is a significant cause of premature death in Brazil….continue reading this article on IBFAN UK/Baby Milk Action website or download the PDF file to share.
Can lessons be learned and UPF trade controlled?
WBC3 – World Breastfeeding Conference (2019)
Materials presented at the 3rd World Breastfeeding Conference (WBC) in Rio de Janeiro, Nov 2019:
- Environmental Impact of Breastmilk Substitutes – the Carbon Footprints of
Infant Formula
Dr. JP Dadhich MD (IBFAN)
Download slides - Green Feeding – Climate Action from Birth
Alison Linnecar (IBFAN)
Download video - Green Feeding, the Global Nutrition targets and Human Rights
Fédora Bernard (IBFAN-GIFA)
Download slides
Climate Change on UN Agenda (2019)
Between May and September 2019, global warming has turned into global heating, and climate change has become a climate emergency. The United Nations has sounded the fire alarm and in September the 2019 UN Climate Summit calls for us all to “Commit to invest in climate action, public health and sustainable development.” The UN website lists examples of climate action, including food:
Act for Our Common Future
We need to inform and mobilise – and we need to start at the very beginning of our lives with Greenfeeding which means Breastfeeding and giving local complementary foods to our children.
Tools
Greenfeeding Tool (2023)
Launch of the Greenfeeding Tool (GFT) on June 5 by Australian National University (ANU), Julie Smith and collegues, to measure the global ecological impact of commercial milk formula (CMF). The downloadable tool calculates the carbon and water footprints of countries’ different infant feeding practices. It shows the environmental gains from policy scenarios that enable women and infants to exclusively breastfeed for the first six months.
Link to the Launch Recording
Mothers’s milk tool (2022)
Valuing breastfeeding through the Mothers’ Milk Tool – Dr. Julie Smith and team.
“Money is the language of policymakers. Counting human milk production in food and economic statistics will assist in better policy decision-making and investments in women’s unpaid care work. The Mothers’ Milk Tool quantifies the volume of breastmilk and value of breastfeeding at national and global levels, as well as how much is lost if country environments and policies, or healthcare, work and community settings do not enable women’s and children’s rights to breastfeeding.” Article about the tool in FRONTIERS .
Costs of not breastfeeding Tool 2022 (new version)
In August 2022, Alive & Thrive and Nutrition International released a new version of the Cost of Not Breastfeeding tool, updated with the latest data for more than 160 countries.
WBCI – World Breastfeeding Cost Initiative Tool
World Breastfeeding Cost initiative tool is a research and advocacy paper initiated by International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN)- Asia as part of the World Breastfeeding Costing Initiative. It presents sobering facts and figures to showcase the price countries pay by not supporting the practice of optimal breastfeeding.
This tool is available at BPNI – WBCI .
Method to estimate GHG emissions (2018)
Innovative method to estimate GHG emissions for Formula (BPNI/IBFAN India 2018) was a pioneer work. Today, see new Green Feeding Tool GFT which takes into account extended GHG emissions and also water footprint and other externalities.
For more information….
- IBFAN statement on climate and health at the 136th session of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization, January 2015
- Formula for Disaster: UNICEF documentary (FULL VIDEO)
- Letter to Pope Francis (2015): Italian , Spanish , English
- IBFAN-GIFA document on climate change and health in French: Changement climatique et santé (2015)
- The Telegraph article: Breastfeed to save the planet, scientists say as study exposes infant formula damage to environment
Henry Bodkin – Science Correspondent – 02 October 2019
News
The texts presented in this section are provided by IBFAN Gifa. All rights reserved.
