2: What is the true price of the food we eat?

5: While prices might be rising right now, the UN

8: estimates that we're actually getting a steal of a deal.

12: A $20 trillion discount on the food we eat worldwide.

16: Why?

17: Because the price we pay doesn't match the true price of what we consume.

22: Behind that sticker price is a tangle of hidden costs.

26: These are externalities — costs (and also, sometimes, benefits)

31: incurred by those not directly involved in production or consumption.

36: These include things like:

37: environmental costs — for the lasting impact of deforestation,

42: CO2 emissions, and the thousand-year legacy of plastic waste,

46: health costs — like those that might be incurred from treating illnesses such as heart disease

52: and diabetes caused by eating unhealthy food,

56: and social costs — for supporting the livelihoods of underpaid workers

60: and the generational impact of child labour.

64: Calculating all these deeper costs is called “true cost accounting”.

69: And the result reveals a product's true price.

72: Your coffee at breakfast, for example, might conceal a very different price tag.

77: Research from the True Price organisation found that a $2 kilo of coffee from Brazil

83: should include charges for underpayment of farmers, unsustainable water use, air pollution,

90: climate-changing energy supplies, and land degradation.

94: For a total true price of $5.17 per kilo.

100: Add that up for a full meal,

102: across a city,

103: around the world,

104: and you see how the real price of our food adds up to a need for real change.

110: Tackling these hidden costs doesn't have to mean higher overall prices.

114: In fact, as externalities factor into the price of production, the broader environmental,

119: social and health costs come down, reducing our overall impact on the world.

125: So, how do we get closer to a system that values the true cost of food?

130: What would it mean if food were truly accountable?

133: In The Netherlands, early steps are being made so that you can go grocery shopping

138: and pay for goods with the prices of externalities listed.

141: Financial institutions are starting to incorporate true price accounting.

146: Rabobank, for example, offers interest rate discounts to farmers with a higher

150: sustainability performance, helping to offset part of the additional costs associated

156: with making production more sustainable.

158: And, on a global scale, governments are beginning to test true cost accounting

163: in land-use policies and forecasting.

166: When we're all more aware of the broader costs that the products we purchase have,

171: we can start making choices that reflect the true, complete impact our food has on the world.