The UK’s largest retailer Tesco has combined forces with non-governmental organisation (NGO) Wrap at the Climate Innovation Forum to call for urgent action to reduce food waste.
The new Tesco-Wrap partnership hosted a collaborative panel at the Climate Innovation Forum in London on Wednesday 25 June, as part of a wide variety of events taking place in the city for London Climate Action Week. Senior representatives from governments, businesses, cities, finance, the UN and the climate community were brought together to discuss how business collaboration can bring clear rewards.
The panel comprised Catherine David, new CEO of Wrap, and Tony McElroy, Tesco’s head of circularity campaigns. They were joined by Kris Gibbon-Walsh, FareShare’s CEO, and Mark Willcox, Branston’s agronomy director, as well as chair Rosemary Brotchie, senior manager, health & sustainability at The Consumer Goods Forum.
The session set out the aims to address every link in the food supply chain from farm to fork – from food waste in the home to improving efficiencies in retail, manufacturing, and farming.
The World Economic Forum estimates food loss and waste also costs the global economy $936 billion a year, when more than 783 million people go hungry every day, and a third of humanity faces food insecurity.
McElroy said: “We’re incredibly proud of all the steps we’ve taken so far, from avoiding waste by redistributing over 300 million meals to charities and communities, to helping customers save money and cut waste at home.
“We remain focused on driving forward action across our entire supply chain and in collaboration with our key partners as we accelerate progress to halve our food waste.”
David, who replaced Harriet Lamb as Wrap CEO last month, added: “Food waste shouldn’t happen.
“It’s one of the largest, most urgent and actionable issues to address and doesn’t need to wait for new technology or AI – it needs focus, collaboration, shared targets and ambition. Looking at nationally determined contributions (NDC) across countries attending COP in recent years, this has all been in dangerously short supply.”
She continued: “The need to reset our global food system is imperative as our population grows and the climate changes. One third of what we produce goes to waste every year while millions go hungry. We need a fair and sustainable system to protect these fragile networks from future disruptions and to make the most of the food we have, for all.
“Food security will become a priority for governments as the real impacts of climate change bite harder in coming years, and tackling waste is a key step they must take. Wrap and Tesco are taking a stand to call out inaction, and demand more from those who fail to act.”
New Wrap targets
- A collective business target – to drive 50 international retailers and manufacturers to adopt food loss and waste targets in line with Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 (SDG12.3)
- A collective action drive – to inspire 50 new businesses to join Wrap’s food agreements across Brazil, the UK, Indonesia, Mexico, Australia, South Africa and the EU in line with SDG 12.3
- Influence policy – to create a united business voice calling for the inclusion of food loss and waste in national policies and NDCs. To call on G20 member states, the Community of Latin American & Caribbean States, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to prioritise food loss and waste reduction; to set targets and provide a supportive policy environment for businesses to act.
Read more about Climate Innovation Forum
[image credit: Green Retail World]
