UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2021

• Recently, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released the Food Waste Index Report 2021.
• It has revealed that 17% of all food available at consumer level (11% in households, 5% in food service and 2% in retail) was wasted in 2019 and around 690 million people had to go hungry.

About the Report:

• The fact that substantial amounts of food are produced but not eaten by humans has substantial negative impacts: environmentally, socially and economically. Estimates suggest that 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions are associated with food that is not consumed.
• Reducing food waste at retail, food service and household level can provide multi-faceted benefits for both people and the planet. However, the true scale of food waste and its impacts have not been well understood until now. As such, the opportunities provided by food waste reduction have remained largely untapped and under-exploited. If we want to get serious about tackling food waste, we need to increase efforts to measure food and inedible parts wasted at retail and consumer level and track food waste generation in kilograms per capita at country level. Only with reliable data, we are going to be able to track progress on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 12.3, which aims at halving per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reducing food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.
• The Food Waste Index Report aims at supporting the goals of SDG 12.3. It does so by presenting the most comprehensive food waste data collection, analysis and modelling to date, generating a new estimate of global food waste; and publishing a methodology for countries to measure food waste, at household, food service and retail level, to track national progress towards 2030 and to report on SDG 12.3. Countries using this methodology will generate strong evidence to guide a national strategy on food waste prevention, that is sufficiently sensitive to pick up changes in food waste over two- or four-year intervals, and that enables meaningful comparisons between countries globally.

Key Findings of the Report:

Food Wastage:

• This report estimates that around 931 million tonnes of food waste was generated in 2019.
• 61% of which came from households, 26% from food service and 13% from retail.

Wastages Across All Income Groups:

• Food waste generation is found to be equally relevant across all income countries such as high, upper‑middle and lower‑middle income countries.
• Developed Countries like Austria produce very low amounts of waste at 39 kg/capita/year. On the other hand, countries like Nigeria are producing waste at 189 kg/capita/year. For India, the waste in kg/capita/year was 50.
• This diverges from earlier narratives concentrating consumer food waste in developed countries, and food production, storage and transportation losses in developing countries.

Lack of Data Availability:

• Global food waste data availability is currently low, and measurement approaches have been highly variable.

Significance of Reduction of Food Waste:

• Reduce Hunger: Reducing food waste can slow the destruction of nature through land conversion and pollution, enhance the availability of food and thus reduce hunger and save money at a time of global recession.
• Aligned with SDGs: This Food Waste Index Report aims to advance progress on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 12.3), i.e. “By 2030, 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”.
• Tackle GHG Emissions: About 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions are associated with food that is not consumed. Thus, tackling food wastage issues can further achieve Paris Agreement targets.

Suggestions by the Report:

• Enhancing NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions) for Food Systems: To raise ambition in national climate strategies by integrating food loss and waste, and strengthen food security.
• Co-create and adopt game-changing solutions to food waste through the UN Food Systems Summit.
• Regional Food Waste Working Group: These Working Groups will provide capacity building and training to participating Member States in measuring food waste, developing a national baseline and designing national strategies for food waste prevention.

UN Food Systems Summit

• In 2021, UN Secretary-General António Guterres will convene a Food Systems Summit as part of the Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
• The Summit will launch bold new actions to deliver progress on all 17 SDGs, each of which relies to some degree on healthier, more sustainable and equitable food systems.

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