Washington, D.C. (September 28, 2021) – Today Champions 12.3 announced it will host a new ‘Assembly’ to convene national governments and businesses to dramatically expand global action toward halving food loss and waste by 2030.
“It’s nothing short of a travesty that more than a billion tons of food goes to waste every year. The Champions 12.3 Assembly will focus on converting ambition to reduce food loss and waste into tangible actions at the country level during this critical decade,” said Hans Hoogeveen, Co-Chair of Champions 12.3 and Independent Chairperson of the Council at FAO. “This is a call for countries and companies to join us – the world needs your involvement to leave nobody behind.”
The Assembly is a response to growing interest in fighting food loss and waste following the UN’s Food Systems Summit on September 23. Members will accelerate action to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals’ Target 12.3, which calls for a 50% reduction in food waste and reductions in food loss worldwide by 2030. Its focus will include:
- Inspiring ambition to implement the “Target-Measure-Act” approach to food loss and waste reduction;
- Learning from Champions, experts, and from each other about successful approaches, roadmaps, strategies, and tactics to reduce food loss and waste;
- Building own capacity for food loss and waste reduction implementation;
- Connecting with new partners to implement food loss and waste reduction efforts; and
- Acting and sharing results.
Champions 12.3 also announced today the latest progress of its groundbreaking “10x20x30” initiative. Launched in 2019, 10x20x30 involves 10+ of the world’s biggest food retailers and providers, wherein each engages at least 20 of its suppliers in a “whole supply chain” approach to halving food loss and waste by 2030.
The nearly 200 suppliers involved with 10x20x30 have completed baseline measurements of their operations’ food loss and waste and are now preparing to tackle their identified food waste “hotspots.” A Walmart Foundation grant to World Resources Institute is supporting training and technical assistance for food suppliers on the reduction of food loss and waste.
Champions announced a suite of additional developments, including:
- There is a need for a dedicated global investment mechanism. A Global Food Loss and Waste Finance Facility will offer a deal-making platform for actors across the value chain and provide financing instruments that can be blended with existing investments. It aims to increase investment, especially from the private sector, to support country-level actions.
- Development of a “FLW Country Progress Index for Latin America and the Caribbean,” which will help governments objectively identify how far along they are in the “Target-Measure-Act” approach to reducing food loss and waste and identify gaps in policies and processes.
- Champion Sam Kass, who leads strategy for Do Good Foods, announced the company has been created to combat climate change by fighting food waste, is starting with the millions of pounds of food that supermarkets send to landfills. The Do Good Foods closed loop system collects grocery surplus and turns it into animal feed, which is integrated into animals’ diets. The end result will be the first carbon reduced chicken that consumers can purchase to do good for their plate and the planet.
These advances are part of growing action around the globe to address food loss and waste, as profiled in the publication released today, “SDG Target 12.3 on Food Loss and Waste: 2021 Progress Report.”
Each year, more than a third of all food produced in the world is lost or wasted. This amount of food loss and waste equals $1 trillion in economic losses annually and is responsible for 8-10% of the global greenhouse gas emissions driving the climate crisis. And while more than 1.3 billion tons of food is lost or wasted annually, 1 in 10 people is undernourished.
“We’re at an important potential tipping point. Nations and companies must step forward with bold action to capture the social, economic and environmental benefits of halving food loss and waste,” said Sunny Verghese, Co-Chair of Champions 12.3 and Co-Founder and Group CEO, Olam International Limited. “The moment is there for us to seize.”
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ABOUT CHAMPIONS 12.3
Champions 12.3 is a coalition of leaders across government, business and civil society dedicated to inspiring ambition, mobilizing action, and accelerating progress toward achieving Target 12.3 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Target 12.3 calls on the world to “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” by 2030.
The Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and World Resources Institute serve as co-secretariats of Champions 12.3. For more information, visit www.Champions123.org
To express interest in joining the Champions 12.3 Assembly, visit www.champions123.org/assembly
Contact:
Jillian Holzer, World Resources Institute, jholzer@wri.org, +1 202-264-0567
Jeanet Smids-Goosen, Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, The Netherlands, j.smids@minlnv.nl, +31 70 3785434