2024 IDAFLW social media - Key messages

This document highlights the scale, impacts, and solutions related to global food waste, emphasizing its social, economic, and environmental consequences. In 2022, 1.05 billion tonnes of food—about one-fifth of what was available to consumers—was wasted, with households accounting for 631 million tonnes, or 60 percent, of this total. Food waste undermines food security, contributes 8–10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and squanders vital resources such as water, energy, labor, and agricultural land, costing the world economy around $1 trillion annually. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG target 12.3) calls for halving per-capita global food waste at retail and consumer levels by 2030. National progress demonstrates feasibility: Japan has cut food waste by 31 percent, the UK by 18 percent, and the Netherlands by 23 percent at the consumer level and 17 percent at retail. The document also notes the growing urban role in tackling the issue, as 80 percent of food will be consumed in cities by 2050.