The global paradox that a third of all food grown and produced never makes it into people’s mouths — even as 800 million people suffer from hunger — finally may be getting the attention it deserves.
Thirty leaders from business, government and foundations gathered in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum vowed Thursday to work to cut food waste in half in the next 15 years.
The participant list reads like a who’s who in environmental and agriculture policy: Tesco, Unilever, Nestle, the World Resources Institute, the Rockefeller Foundation.
The group essentially committed themselves to deliver on one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Goal No. 12.3 calls for halving per capita food waste by 2030.
Food waste and loss is a $940 billion problem in unrealized revenue to farmers and producers. And, because unharvested or uneaten food rots on fields or in landfills, food waste emits methane in such quantity that rotting food accounts for 8 percent of the globe’s greenhouse gas emissions.
If the group succeeds, it will have also helped achieve other lofty goals, such as eradicating world hunger, improving health and mitigating climate change.
More at the source: GreenBiz
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