Find recent reports from Champions 12.3 including our annual progress report on how the world is doing toward achieving Target 12.3 and the business case for reducing food loss and waste.
Publications
The Business Case for Reducing Food Loss and Waste
A review of 114 restaurants across 12 countries found that nearly every site achieved a positive return, with the average restaurant saving $7 for every $1 invested in reducing kitchen food waste.
First-of-its-kind research on behalf of Champions 12.3 finds a robust business case for food service providers operating in hospitals, schools, sports arenas, and other facilities to reduce this inefficiency. A review of 86 sites in six countries found that nearly all achieved a positive return, with the average site seeing a 6:1 return on investment from reducing food waste.
A review of 42 hotels across 15 countries found that nearly every site evaluated achieved a positive return, with the average hotel saving $7 for every $1 invested in reducing kitchen food waste.
A first-of-its-kind analysis finds that there is a robust business case for companies, countries, and cities to reduce food loss and waste.
A review of 1,200 business sites across 700 companies in 17 countries found that nearly every site evaluated achieved a positive return, with half seeing a 14-fold or greater return on investment. In the UK, the only nation we could find with full financial cost-benefit data available, findings show that for every £1 invested in efforts to curb avoidable household food waste, households and local authorities saved £250. This report also presents data from the city of London.
Progress Toward SDG Target 12.3
SDG Target 12.3 on Food Loss and Waste: 2024 Progress Report is the ninth in an annual series of updates assessing the world’s progress toward Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 12.3. SDG 12.3 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.” Prepared on behalf of Champions 12.3, this publication seeks to inform decision-makers in government, business, academia, and civil society about recent advances and what remaining steps need to be addressed if the world is to achieve the target. Previous progress reports (2016–23) can be found on our Publications page. This progress report contains text from the previous editions in the series, with permission of the authors of those editions. View digital report
SDG Target 12.3 on Food Loss and Waste: 2023 Progress Report is the eighth in an annual series of publications providing an assessment of the world’s progress toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3. SDG 12.3 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.” Prepared on behalf of Champions 12.3, this publication seeks to inform decision-makers in government, business, academia, and civil society about recent advances and what remaining steps need to be addressed if the world is to achieve the target.
SDG Target 12.3 on Food Loss and Waste: 2022 Progress Report is the seventh in an annual series of publications providing an assessment of the world’s progress toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3. SDG 12.3 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.” Prepared on behalf of Champions 12.3, this publication seeks to inform decision-makers in government, business, academia, and civil society about recent advances and what remaining steps need to be addressed if the world is to achieve the target.
SDG Target 12.3 on Food Loss and Waste: 2021 Progress Report is the sixth in an annual series of publications providing an assessment of the world’s progress toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 12.3. SDG 12.3 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.” This publication seeks to inform decision-makers in government, business, academia, and civil society about recent advances and what remaining steps need to be addressed if the world is to achieve the target.
This fifth annual progress report assesses advances by governments and companies over the past 12 months relative to a three-step approach for reducing food loss and waste: target, measure, and act -- finding that the approach is working and examples from companies and governments show a 50% reduction in food loss and waste is possible. But there are only 10 years left to meet SDG Target 12.3 and cut food loss and waste in half – and more needs to be done.
Since the announcement of the Sustainable Development Goals, to what degree has the world made progress toward achieving Target 12.3? This publication answers this question as of September 2019 by evaluating progress relative to a three-step approach for reducing food loss and waste: (1) target, (2) measure, and (3) act.
Since the announcement of the Sustainable Development Goals, to what degree has the world made progress toward achieving Target 12.3? This publication answers this question as of September 2018 by evaluating progress relative to a three-step approach for reducing food loss and waste: (1) target, (2) measure, and (3) act.
Since the announcement of the Sustainable Development Goals, to what degree has the world made progress toward achieving Target 12.3? This publication answers this question as of September 2017 by evaluating progress relative to a three-step approach for reducing food loss and waste: (1) target, (2) measure, and (3) act.
Since the announcement of the Sustainable Development Goals, to what degree has the world made progress toward achieving Target 12.3? This publication answers this question as of September 2016 by evaluating progress relative to a three-step approach for reducing food loss and waste: (1) target, (2) measure, and (3) act.
More Publications
Food loss and waste occurs throughout the food system – from farm through to fork. This guide focuses on food waste from households which is a significant issue in many countries.
The causes of food waste at household level are complex. There are many drivers and many behaviours, which lead to food being wasted. Many organisations and others who interact with householders have a role to play in helping people reduce the amount of food they waste – by helping to raise awareness and then helping address the barriers to reducing food waste, whether they are related to the product offering or a result of behaviours, skills and knowledge.
Champions 12.3 has collated this guide to help key actors in the food system to focus on how they can help consumers reduce food waste through behaviour change.
The members of the Champions 12.3 coalition call on all governments and companies to pursue the following strategies to dramatically accelerate efforts to halve their food loss and waste by 2030: (1) Follow the "Target-Measure-Act" approach, (2) Integrate food loss and waste reduction into climate strategies, and (3) Pursue food loss and waste reduction as part of COVID-19 responses.
This publication provides an interpretation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 12.3—the one addressing food loss and waste—given some ambiguity about the target. It seeks to inform decision makers in government, business, and civil society about what should be considered a “best practice” understanding of SDG Target 12.3.
Standardizing food date labels and clearly communicating their meaning is a simple and effective way to reduce the amount of food thrown out by people, saving them money and reducing their environmental footprint since food waste is a contributor to climate change.
This progress is promising. But is the world on track to achieve Target 12.3 by 2030? To answer this question, the 2018 Progress Report benchmarks progress against Champions 12.3’s road map showing a pathway for achieving the target by 2030.
The report’s authors have assessed progress to date against the 2016–2018 milestones, with “green” indicating that the first milestone is achieved, and “yellow” indicating some progress has been made.
This voluntary resolution calls on private sector members of the Global Agri-Business Alliance (GAA) to halve their food and agricultural losses by 2030, and work with suppliers and customers to the same end, a target aligned with Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3. Read Here