Among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) defined by the United Nations is that of halving global food waste.
This new study, published in Nature Food, assesses food loss and waste emissions at every stage of the supply chain, from harvest to landfill or compost.
It reveals that global food waste in 2017 resulted in the emission of 9.3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent (GtCO2e), roughly the combined total emissions of the United States and the European Union for the same year. A colossal waste when more than 800 million people will suffer from hunger in 2021.
The study also explores a number of ways to reduce emissions from food waste, such as halving meat consumption and composting instead of disposing of waste in landfills.
