Tesco CEO and Chair of Champions 12.3 Calls for Global Scale Up on Food Waste Reduction

26 Sep 2016 --- Europe is making progress on cutting down on food waste but more work needs to be done globally - that is the general assertion following last week’s new Champions 12.3 report which recommends governments and businesses around the world accelerate efforts to achieve targets.

Champions 12.3 coalition brings together CEOs, politicians, and leaders from global institutes and civil society to help achieve Target 12.3. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3 aims to halve per capita food waste and reduce food losses by 2030.

The report concludes that in order to achieve the goals, nations, cities and companies need to work harder and closer together with more cooperation. Currently one third of all food produced globally is never eaten by people and food loss and waste amounts to approximately US$940 billion in losses and eight percent of greenhouse gas emissions annually. Around 88 million tons of food are wasted every year in the EU, costing €143 billion (US$160 billion) - this could feed 200 million people. 

Dave Lewis, CEO, Tesco is also chair of Champions 12.3. He says: “It is vital that organizations begin measuring food waste, and set reduction targets. In 2013, Tesco became the first and only UK retailer to publish independently assured food waste data. It was a move that was instrumental in showing us where we needed to focus our efforts. Once we identified the problems areas we knew where to act. By measuring food waste, setting targets and building action plans, organizations are able to manage food waste as they would other business critical processes.”

Vytenis Andriukaitis, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety adds: “To fight food waste, we need to redesign our food value chain, eliminating waste at each stage and making any surplus food readily available to those in need. This requires close co-operation of all actors and I am confident that the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste will help accelerate our progress towards SDG Target 12.3".

Whilst the European Union’s efforts so far have been recognized, considering the enormous scope of the food loss and waste challenge, the EU and other regions need to do much more. The report offers three recommendations for leaders to meet Target 12.3 by 2030:

• Every country, major city and company involved in the food supply chain should set food loss and waste reduction targets consistent with Target 12.3 in order to ensure sufficient attention and focus.
• The report recommends governments and companies quantify and report on food loss and waste and monitor progress over time through 2030.
• Governments and companies should accelerate and scale up adoption of policies, incentives, investment and practices that reduce food loss and waste.

“Wasting a third of the food we produce is an alarming symptom of our profoundly broken global food system. It is easy to see the business logic in improving this ratio: what you don’t waste, you don’t have to produce. Addressing this through Target 12.3 will also bring a range of other benefits – we’ll require less natural resources for production, and we can improve food security and efficiency simultaneously. To help achieve this goal, WBCSD is bringing together companies from around the world to lead the way for the private sector in accelerating the transition to a world with truly sustainable food systems,” adds Peter Bakker, President and CEO, World Business Council Sustainable Development. 

Europe-based Champions include Tesco Group Chief Executive Dave Lewis (chair of Champions 12.3), European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis, President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development Peter Bakker, Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke, Chairman of the Executive Board for Rabobank Wiebe Draijer, Consumer Goods Forum Managing Director Peter Freedman, Wageningen University & Research Centre’s President of the Executive Board Louise Fresco, Senior Fellow and Director of Food Loss and Waste at World Resources Institute Liz Goodwin, CEO of WRAP (Waste Resources & Action Programme) Marcus Gover, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to UN FAO Hans Hoogeveen, WWF International President Yolanda Kakabadse, CEO of Sodexo Group Michel Landel, Denmark’s Minister for the Environment and Food Esben Lunde Larsen, CEO of UnileverPaul Polman, Chairman of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research Juan Lucas Restrepo Ibiza, CEO and Chairman of the Managing Board for Royal DSM Feike Sijbesma, Director of the Oxford Martin School Achim Steiner and Feedback founderTristram Stuart.