According to the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023, In 2021, around 13% of the world’s food waste was lost along the supply chain from farm to fork. This figure has remained nearly unchanged since 2016, falling short of the 2030 goal to reduce post-harvest food losses significantly.
Food producers must take new initiatives and make investments that will reduce this figure to reach the goal of 2030. But food producers are not the only ones who need to change their ways.
In 2019, the world’s food waste in households, food services, and retail was 17%, which is equal to 120 kg. of food wasted per capita. Even though high-income countries leave a much larger environmental impact than low-income countries, all regional groups are similar in terms of household food waste per capita, which highlights the importance of all countries taking action.
Food loss and waste data are still scarce even though the reduction of food loss is considered high on the environmental agenda. To improve our efforts in waste reduction, we need to continue implementing new policies informed by data and invest in new technologies that will help monitor food production.
Legislation such as The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) makes it a legal requirement for companies to showcase their commitment to the SDGs. Consequently, companies are increasingly reporting on their efforts to improve sustainability, which of course is a step in the right direction. According to the SDGs Report, around 70% of monitored companies published sustainability reports in 2021 - triple the percentage since 2016.
