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The Coalition has recently released a new report, developed in partnership with AlixPartners, which lays out the business case for tackling food loss and waste, highlighting its financial benefits and its potential to combat climate change.
The CGF Food Waste Coalition of Action is working to accelerate the industry’s ambition towards net zero. Current global estimates are that food loss and waste (FLW) accounts for 10% of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, approximately a quarter of all freshwater use, and the total cost of FLW is estimated to be over $1 trillion. Reducing food loss and waste both upstream and downstream is a key opportunity to mitigate the effects of climate change, and should be part of industry climate action plans.
In June 2024, the Food Waste Coalition released a report – developed in partnership with global consulting firm AlixPartners – demonstrating the full business case for tackling FLW, and estimating the true cost of food waste is undervalued by as much as 50%. The report, titled Driving Emissions Down and Profit Up by Reducing Food Waste, outlines the potential for mitigating the effects of climate change and reinforcing the true financial value and climate impact of FLW reduction.
The report estimates that the cost of food waste is estimated to be 25 – 50% higher than historical measures, and lays out the significant hidden impacts of food waste on company bottom lines and net zero targets. The cost of GHG emissions, it says, could be 2 to 8 times greater in 25 years’ time.
Using input from the Coalition, AlixPartners established five key themes across the five pillars of FLW reduction and monitoring from which a capability assessment framework has been developed to provide clarity and guidance on where companies are on their waste-reduction journey. The FLW Capability Assessment (available for both retailers and manufacturers) offers a framework for any player in the food value chain to evaluate current FLW capabilities, identify gaps, and prioritise gap-closure actions.
The Coalition is also focused on broadening its impact across the industry. CPG manufacturers and food retailers face an enormous challenge in addressing food waste, which, given food wastes’ significant contributions to emissions, must be a core component of any net zero strategy.
The Coalition has recently released a new report, developed in partnership with AlixPartners, which lays out the business case for tackling food loss and waste, highlighting its financial benefits and its potential to combat climate change.
Download these one pagers designed to empower companies to reduce waste and make progress toward climate goals.
