This is an official side-event of the 12th World Urban Forum.
Date: Thursday, 7 November 2024
Time: 09:00-10:00 EEST
Location: Urban Library - room A in the Egypt International Exhibition Center, El-Moshir Tantawy Axis, Al Hay Al Asher, Nasr City, Cairo Governorate 4440301, Egypt
Organizers:
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Description:
In 2022, the world wasted 1.05 billion tonnes of food, or one-fifth of all food available to consumers within households, food businesses, and at retail. This waste is estimated to cost the global economy over 1 trillion dollars annually and occurs in the context of 783 million people worldwide being affected by hunger. In households alone, the world wastes over one billion meals every single day. This food never eaten has significant consequences for the environment: food loss and waste is responsible for 8-10% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, is a major contributor of methane, and squanders 28% of the world’s agricultural land and one-fourth of agriculture’s freshwater.
As such, reducing food waste is not only critical to increasing food security and promoting circularity in the food system but also a key climate action strategy. As of 2022, only 21 countries have included food loss and/or waste reduction in their national climate plans (NDCs). The 2025 NDCs revision process provides a crucial opportunity to raise climate ambition by integrating food loss and waste targets into the NDCs 3.0, particularly through including circular food city plans and policies.
UNEP, as custodian of the SDG 12.3 indicator, publishes the Food Waste Index report. This recently published 2024 Food Waste Index is the most comprehensive assessment of available global food waste data, providing the latest global and country-level estimates on food waste and tracking progress towards SDG 12.3.
