Global environmental action organisation, The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), is highlighting the necessity for countries to include food loss and waste reduction targets in their latest Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
The 29th United Nations Climate Change conference (COP29) is currently underway in Baku, Azerbaijan, and a new report has shown that of the 195 countries in attendance, only 12 have committed to reducing food waste and 17 to tackling food loss.
In total, 24 countries committed to reducing food loss and/or waste, while 88 per cent attending the global climate conference have made no commitments to address either. Australia is currently in the majority camp.
WRAP CEO, Harriet Lamb, said addressing the broken state of the global food system should be a key priority for every country.
“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change made it clear that food production contributes 37 per cent to all greenhouse gas emissions and even if all other emissions ended immediately, global food production alone would push us far beyond 1.5°C,” said Lamb.
“Wasted food contributes almost five times more GHG emissions than aviation and were it a country, food waste would be the world’s third largest emitter after China and the USA. So the fact that so few countries are addressing this critical situation in their NDCs is shocking.”
Food waste is estimated to account for 3 per cent of Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions, and costs the economy around $36.6 billion each year. However, our 2022 NDC communication did not reference food loss or waste, or set targets for reducing these issues.
Australia has had a National Food Waste Strategy in place since 2017, providing a framework to support collective action towards halving the country’s food waste by 2030. Organisations such as End Food Waste Australia are helping to deliver the strategy through campaigns like The Great Unwaste, but are not seeing the necessary results in policy-making.
It is interesting that, although there is an obligation under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the diversion of food waste from landfill, Australia has not recognised meaningful, concrete targets on the global stage.
Countries are due to submit their new NDC’s by February 2025 in preparation for COP30, an opportunity for Australia to progress in this area.
Global context and WRAP guidance
The latest Food Waste Index Report (2024), compiled by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and co-authored by WRAP, found that the world wastes over a billion tonnes of food – one fifth of all food available to consumers at the retail, food service and household level annually. This is in addition to 13 per cent lost in the supply chain, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation.
WRAP stated that food loss and waste also has devastating impacts on society and global economies. The World Economic Forum estimates that food loss and waste costs the global economy $936 billion a year, while more than 783 million people go hungry and a third of humanity faces food insecurity.
WRAP advises that countries are missing a golden opportunity to tackle greenhouse gas emissions and increase security of food supplies to their citizens by preventing food loss and waste.
“Food, textiles and manufactured products account for nearly 50 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions,” said Lamb.
“Addressing the problems in our food system and creating a circular economy are key to tackling these huge emitters of greenhouse gases. We must embrace circular living in every boardroom and every home.”
Based on its research of how countries have integrated food loss and waste into their NDCs to varying degrees, WRAP and The Global Action Drive group have published a best practice guide, Why & How to Incorporate Reducing Food Loss and Waste into Nationally Determined Contributions, for countries to include food loss and waste in their NDCs.
Next steps highlighted include:
- Committing to delivering UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 and halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses, by 2030,
- Including this commitment in their new NDCs to be submitted by early 2025,
- Setting meaningful targets and intersectoral mechanisms to operationalise follow up,
- Backing this commitment with specific practical policy measures,
- Measuring and reporting food loss and waste at national and sector levels, and
- Including solid national data to report on progress through the biennial transparency reports.
WRAP is currently hosting a series of sessions dedicated to addressing food loss and waste at COP29, in partnership with The Global Food Banking Network, ReFED and FareShare.
Countries have until February 2025 to submit their NDCs for COP30, and WRAP is calling on all governments to include food loss and waste reduction ahead of the next global meeting. Doing so offers countries that signed the Global Methane Pledge (158 countries, COP26 - European Union and the United States), and those who signed UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action (160+ countries, COP28) the opportunity to strengthen their climate commitments. Australia is involved with both agreements.
