If global food waste were a country, it would rank as the world’s third largest emitter contributing 8- 10% of harmful greenhouse gases, after China (30.7%) and USA (13.7%). That stark fact ought to be a wake-up call to everyone. And so should this: the global food waste emissions are five times greater than global emissions from aviation.
Each year roughly one-third of all food by weight – over 1 billion tonnes – is spoiled or thrown away worldwide as it moves from where it is produced – fields – to where it is eaten, costing globally up to almost $1 trillion (that’s a million million dollars) per year. In the UK we throw away 10.7 million tonnes per year. That’s enough to fill Wembley Stadium ten times.
Overall food production accounts for just over one-quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. This is a great deal, but it’s slightly easier to digest when we remind ourselves that food is the most basic human need. But what is hard to take in is the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that are caused in the production of food that is never eaten.
The latest global figures on food wasted after leaving farms reveal that in 2022 60% occurred in households (mainly of the wealthier ones), 28% in food services (restaurants, cafés canteens and take-aways) and 12% in the retail sector.
Consider this alongside two grim realities: in that same year one third of the global population of 8 billion was food insecure, uncertain of where their next meal was coming from, and about a tenth faced actual hunger. Millions in affluent countries were part of these statistics too.
So what? Clearly all this matters for two main reasons. A large part of the emissions from food waste are in the form of methane which over a 20 year period has a global warming potential of over 80 times greater than carbon dioxide, and over a 100 year period over 25 times greater.
The latest estimates are that global temperature rise by the end of the century will be in the order of an alarming 2.6oC to 3.1oC, by far the greatest impacts of which will fall on those least able to cope, wherever they live.
Second it matters that while so many of the 8 billion plus are rich enough to buy food and waste it on a profligate scale, tens of millions are locked into food insecurity – unsure of their next meal. And, as I have just said, these are the most vulnerable to climate change of which the affluent are the cause.
Now what? To start, that is up to you and to me.
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Joe Human
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