October 2016: Champions 12.3 have advocated for countries and companies to set targets to reduce food loss and waste, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Champions are a coalition of leaders working to mobilize action, inspire ambition and accelerate progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 (Ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns) and its target 12.3, which aims to “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.”

According to Champions 12.3, reducing food loss and waste is a “triple win for food security, the economy and the environment.” They note that food loss and waste accounts for US$940 billion annually in economic losses, with over a billion tons of food never consumed, meaning the cropland and water used to produce it was wasted. Food loss and waste also contributes 8% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Food loss and waste accounts for US$940 billion annually in economic losses and 8% of greenhouse gas emissions.

On reducing food waste, Champions 12.3 highlighted actions taken by the private sector to achieve target 12.3. The Consumer Goods Forum, which represents over 400 large manufacturers, retailers and service providers, pledged to reduce food waste from its members’ operations by 50% by 2025, five years ahead of the 2030 deadline for the target. Champions 12.3 Chair and Tesco CEO Dave Lewis described this as a clear commitment by the Forum to “deliver on this reduction in waste initiative.”

Lewis added that Tesco has set a further goal of not wasting any food that is safe for human consumption, by the end of 2017. Tesco aims to achieve this goal by growing its food surplus redistribution scheme, ‘Community Food Connection,’ a partnership with FareShare and Food Cloud that won the Sustainable Futures award at the 2016 IGD Awards. Through the initiative, Tesco stores post estimates of quality unsold food to the FareSareFoodCloud app and local charities and community groups receive texts about the available food, which the groups can then use for people in need. In a presentation to the GCF Sustainable Retail Summit, Lewis underscored the importance of measuring Tesco’s food waste footprint, broken down by individual categories and weight, stressing the importance of first “measur[ing] something accurately…to target…interventions to make an impact.” He encouraged all retailers around the world to start measuring their waste.

Also on measuring food waste, the Champions 12.3 website underscores the importance of quantifying how much and where food is lost or wasted to understand and address the issues. The group showcases methodologies and standards for measuring food loss and waste. The EU Commission will use a standard methodology to measure food waste across the EU. Another tool, the Food Loss and Waste Protocol (FLW Protocol or FLW Standard), developed by UN Environment (UNEP), the Consumer Good Forum, FUSIONs, Initiative Save Food, the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Wrap, and the World Resources Institute (WRI) serves as a global standard for quantifying and reporting on food loss and waste.

In an op-ed on Champions 12.3, WWF President Yolanda Kakabadse highlights opportunities to address food loss and waste in Latin America’s cities and urban areas. She recommends city leaders, inter alia: establish reduction targets in line with SDG target 12.3 to create ambition and motivate action; use the FLW Standard to measure and report on progress; and develop policies and programmes to reduce waste and educate consumers on strategies for reducing waste.

The Champions 12.3 coalition emerged from the global multi-stakeholder summit, ‘No More Food to Waste,’ during which participants proposed that a group of executives champion SDG target 12.3. The Government of the Netherlands formally called for the formation of Champions 12.3 during the UN General Assembly’s (UNGA) Sustainable Development Summit, in September 2015.

Also on reducing food waste, the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), will bring together UN agencies, the food industry and other stakeholders to discuss how to tackle food waste and loss and share interventions at an event in Geneva, Switzerland, on 10 November. [Champions 12.3 News] [Tesco News Story on Sustainable Retail Summit] [Community Food Connection Website] [FLW Protocol] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on World Food Day] [UNECE Press Release]