New Protocol Will Take a Bite Out of Global Food Loss and Waste

Earlier this year, WRI analysis found that one in four food calories produced go uneaten. Yesterday a group of experts took the first step toward helping to curb this massive amount of food loss and waste.

At the Global Green Growth Forum in Copenhagen, WRI announced the launch of a process to develop a global standard for measuring food loss and waste. This standard, known as the “Global Food Loss and Waste Protocol,” will enable countries and companies to measure and monitor the food loss and waste that occur within their boundaries and value chains in a credible, practical, and consistent manner.

The goal is that by measuring their loss and waste in standardized, consistent ways, companies and countries can then identify cost-effective ways for saving this valuable food.

Food Loss and Waste: A Globally Significant Problem

Preventing food loss and waste could not only save companies and countries money, it could go a long way toward ensuring global food security and reducing food production’s environmental impact. Some of this loss occurs at the farm level—due to spoilage or improper harvesting—while some of it occurs at the fork level, with people failing to consume all the food they purchase. This leads to huge consequences: perfectly good food doesn’t reach the people who need it, environmental resources are consumed for no reason, and money is spent on food that doesn’t get eaten. (Check out the box below for more factoids on the extent of the world’s food waste problem.)

But in this problem lies great opportunity. According to WRI research, the world will need to produce about 60 percent more food calories by 2050 in order to feed a projected population of more than 9 billion people. Cutting current rates of global food loss and waste by half would reduce the size of this food gap by about 22 percent.

How the Protocol Will Work

If the old adage “what gets measured gets managed” is true, then the world’s high rate of food loss and waste is not surprising. Countries and companies currently do not systematically measure or frequently collect data on their food loss and waste. Therefore, if one does not know how much or where food loss and waste is occurring, then how can one take action to reduce it?

That’s where the Protocol comes in. It will provide guidance on the most important aspects of measuring food loss and waste. These include definitions, boundaries of what to measure, appropriate data sources and quantification methods, and how to evaluate trade-offs between accuracy, completeness, relevance, and cost. By using the Protocol, countries and companies will be able to identify how much and where food is being lost and wasted within their own boundaries. And Protocol users will then be able to compare the efforts within their own four walls to other companies and countries, which will help with efforts to reduce loss and waste by allowing for easy sharing of best practices.

Ensuring a Sustainable Future

The issue of food loss and waste is a complex issue—one that holds significant economic, environmental, and human welfare implications. By getting an accurate measure of what their food waste and loss looks like, companies and countries can then identify opportunities to save this food. Curbing this loss and waste is a critical component of creating a globally sustainable food system—both for current and future generations.

• LEARN MORE: In the coming months, WRI will convene a large group of partners and stakeholders to develop the Protocol. This group’s job will be to make sure that The Protocol is useful, relevant, and understandable for those who will actually be using it to reduce their own loss and waste. If you would like to be learn more or sign up to be involved, please visit the Protocol website.