Seven organisations led by WRAP want the COP31 presidency to treat food loss and waste as a climate solution, turn pledges into funded policy, and release finance to bodies cutting waste on the ground.
Seven global organisations led by WRAP, the Waste and Resources Action Programme, have called on the COP31 presidency to adopt three measures on food loss and waste, issued on Tuesday during London Climate Action Week with under four years left to meet a 2030 goal of halving global food waste.
Food loss and waste account for between 8 and 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and more than one billion tonnes of edible food is discarded each year, according to the group, which also includes ReFED, a US food waste non-profit, the Global FoodBanking Network, the World Resources Institute (WRI), WWF, Ambition Loop and the Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy.
The coalition wants the Turkish presidency to recognise food loss and waste reduction as a climate solution within the summit's stated focus on zero waste and food security, and to turn existing national and global commitments into funded policies and implementation road maps.
"Food waste reduction is one of the greatest untapped opportunities in our fight against climate change," said Gonzalo Muñoz, co-founder of Ambition Loop and the COP25 Climate High-Level Champion. "COP31 has an unprecedented opportunity to be known for delivering the enabling policies and financial incentives that will take action on food waste to a truly global scale."
The appeal builds on a call the same organisations made to national governments last October, and follows the Plan of Acceleration agreed under the Action Agenda at COP30 in Belém, which set out steps to advance food security through food recovery and waste reduction. The COP31 presidency and Climate High-Level Champion have signalled that food loss and waste will be a priority at Antalya.
The call-to-action was launched at a London Climate Week event, Cutting Food Waste: Accelerating Zero Waste and Strengthening Food Security on the Road to COP31, which included UK Minister for Nature Mary Creagh, Muñoz, Carolina Urmeneta of the Global Methane Hub, and Carlos Silva Filho, special advisor to the COP31 Climate High-Level Champion.
WRAP convenes a network of 10 national food pacts that brings together 920 organisations across six continents, which between them represent 14 per cent of the global population and around a fifth of global food waste.
"If food waste is the opportunity, collective action is the proven solution that works," said Catherine David, chief executive of WRAP. "I urge the COP31 presidency and governments to join us in scaling the action we so urgently need on a truly global scale."
Progress against the 2030 target remains slow. UN figures put food wasted in 2022 at 1.05 billion tonnes, around 19 per cent of food available to consumers, with households responsible for about 60 per cent of that total. COP31 takes place in Antalya, Türkiye, from 9 to 20 November.
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