To achieve the SDGs, workers must define the true cost of labor in food systems

BY JULIE KURTZ

With the approach of the Sept. 23 UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), the potential of True Cost Accounting (TCA) for food systems has been a topic of much discussion—including Nature Food’s entire September Focus Issue. TCA is a powerful approach to economic assessment that looks beyond conventional financial metrics of food consumption and production to unveil hidden costs and benefits of food system activities. By measuring the broader human, social and ecological impacts, TCA seeks to correct reductionist approaches that assess metrics such as yield per hectare but fail to capture whole system effects, including many drivers of success (or failure) of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).