The Global FoodBanking Network, which represents food banks in more than 50 countries, has discovered that food banks reduce the same volume of greenhouse gas emissions on average as removing 900 gasoline-powered cars from the road for a year.
Food systems are estimated to be responsible for around a third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, half of which is caused by food loss and waste. Food taken to landfills mostly generates methane, which traps more than 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide over the first 20 years, making it a more potent gas in the short-term.
Recognising the importance of immediate methane mitigation for curbing rising temperatures, more than 150 countries joined the Global Methane Pledge at the COP26 climate talks to reduce methane emissions by 30 per cent from 2020 levels by 2030.
The Global FoodBanking Network partnered with the Global Methane Hub, with technical support from the Carbon Trust, to determine the significance of food recovery in reducing these volumes.
Using Microsoft’s Sustainability Manager, The FRAME (Food Recovery to Avoid Methane Emissions) Methodology was developed, calculating emissions savings and other indicators to demonstrate the environmental and social benefits of food banks.
The program was piloted in Mexico and Ecuador, where six community-led food banks were analysed – finding the organisations prevented an incredible total of 816 tonnes of methane over a year, or an average of 136t each, by redistributing food that would otherwise have gone to landfill.
Emissions from waste have more than doubled in Ecuador since 1990, accounting for about 13 per cent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions today, while around a third of food is lost or wasted in Mexico.
The savings are estimated to be equivalent to each food bank avoiding the annual emissions of 906 gasoline-powered cars, or storing the same carbon as almost 63,000 tree seedlings grown for a decade, based on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.
The tool was developed to allow the food loss and waste sector to be able to accurately measure and manage emissions from food recovery and redistribution. It builds on earlier approaches for measuring emissions by collecting additional data points across the entire food recovery and redistribution chain.
The Global FoodBanking Network president and CEO, Lisa Moon, said the new FRAME Methodology provides strong and credible evidence that food recovery and redistribution reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also improving food security.
“Food banks and other food recovery organisations provide an instant, cost-effective and straightforward way to reduce emissions while food production systems evolve to be more sustainable.”
Moon will be speaking at The Global FoodBanking Network’s Global Summit 2024: Food Banking and Climate Change, taking place from 9-12 September in Sydney – the first time this event has been held in the Asia Pacific region, which contains many of the fastest-growing food banks in the network.
Co-hosted with Foodbank Australia, the event will bring together participants and experts from 50 countries around the world who are finding local solutions to alleviate hunger and address climate change.
The Summit will dig into how these issues are interconnected and how food banks the world over provide a unique, cost-effective solution to food insecurity and climate change at the same time – as proven by the FRAME methodology.
The methodology will also enable food banking organisations in more than 80 countries to demonstrate their contributions to reducing food waste, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, and supporting national climate plans known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Global Methane Hub CEO, Marcelo Mena, said it will help countries deliver on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including commitments made as part of the Global Methane Pledge.
“This robust new tool for measuring the methane emissions avoided through food recovery and redistribution helps bring forward the climate benefits of the noble task of food donations,” said Mena.
“Policies such as methane roadmaps, organic waste prevention legislation and incentives for food donation should all form part of national climate strategies to leverage the potential of food banks to bring down methane emissions and food insecurity.”
The Global Methane Hub states that it will continue to support the development of the methodology, which will include training on data collection at food bank partners in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, legal guidelines for policymakers on how to support food recovery and redistribution, and parallel guidelines for the private sector on how to support food recovery and redistribution.
