Oxfam International has thrown the spotlight on Australia’s most powerful food lobby in its new report on the broader food industry’s failure to cut carbon emissions and adequately tackle climate change.

In its investigation into the environmental efforts of the world’s biggest food companies, Oxfam named and shamed the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) for actively supporting the carbon tax repeal and allowing companies to remain silent on climate change policies.

Top 10 food companies branded as 'silent accomplices' to climate change 'crisis'. Credit:AFR

"The food and beverage industry has a lot to lose from climate change and should be concerned about the direction the government is going in, and yet the council is staying silent, leaving the field open for the fossil fuel industries to dominate the debate," said Oxfam Australia’s food policy specialist Kelly Dent.

The development agency criticised trade associations such as the US Chamber of Commerce and Business Europe for opposing climate change action, and the US Grocery Manufacturers Association and FoodDrinkEurope for their passive stance. But it deemed the AFGC’s rejection of the carbon tax as "worse".