Food. It is grown, harvested, processed, packaged, transported, distributed, traded, bought, prepared and then… thrown out.   

Each year, approximately 14 percent of the food we produce is lost between when it is harvested and before it reaches the shops. A further 17 percent of our food ends up being wasted by retailers and consumers.  

Food loss and waste is also a major contributor to the climate crisis, accounting for up to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions. In some countries, the food supply chain is already on course to overtake farming and land use as the largest contributor to GHGs emissions, adding to an unstable climate and extreme weather events such as droughts and flooding. This, is turn, impacts crop yields and their quality, increases food loss and further threatens food security and nutrition.

And while the world produces enough food to feed its population, almost 830 million people still go hungry every day. The causes of the mismatch between supply and demand are multiple and symptomatic of larger inefficiencies in our agrifood supply chains – a term that covers the entire journey of food, from farm to table – and beyond. 

Addressing such inefficiencies and breaking the vicious cycle between food loss and waste and climate change, especially at a time of inflated food prices, is therefore a top priority.