The Environmental Impact of Food Wastage is Solvable, If Leaders Step Up
Recently I was asked to participate in a conference called Stockholm 50 which was held on UN World Environment Day. The objective of the gathering was to bring together key thinkers and decision-makers to evaluate our progress towards a more sustainable future and plot the path going forward. Just before I was set to speak, I was sitting in the audience of another session which was focused on the youth delegation. As the session finished the rather confident and smug moderator turned to the group of young participants on the stage representing the youth delegation and asked if there were happy with the proposed solutions and discussions that they were experiencing at Stockholm 50? In the silence and shoe shuffling that followed, a clear female voice in the crowd rang out a very clear “NO”. Shocked, the moderators asked why? With further exploration, she explained that she was tired of hearing people talk about the problems we were facing and paying lip service to what leaders were going to do in 2050 or 2060. She wanted to see action now and couldn’t understand why that was not forthcoming.
It was a sobering moment for all of us in attendance.
We Don’t Have Time (or Food) to Waste
The incident took me back to a meeting I had with the teams at We Don’t Have Time, Sustory, and the 2022 Initiative earlier in the week. In this meeting, we discussed the sheer lack of leadership that was prevalent across all parts of the public and private sector. If we just zero in on the issue of food wastage, we have solvable problems staring us in the face, but those with the power and influence to do so seem to be sitting on their hands. The issue we face is not with technology or capability – we had all pledged to attend COP27 with real practical solutions that could scale – but rather with an absent and even negligent group of leaders at both corporate and country level.
To put things into perspective, if food wastage was a country, it would be the third biggest emitter of greenhouse gasses behind China and the USA[1]. That’s staggering. And if we just look at the food production supply chain itself, around 24%[2] of the emissions are due to wastage. This is something that we have to get under control especially as the global population continues to rise and we might need to feed 9 billion people in 2050. But it only comes with strong leaders who are willing to be first movers and take the necessary steps to rectify the situation.
In Australia, we are one of the few countries in the world that has the land, farmers, and resources to make a real dent in this and lead the world towards meaningful progress with regards to food waste. Yet, after two years of petitioning, submitting proposals and highlighting the issues Australia faces in its food waste and carbon, neither NSW State nor the pervious federal government acted to address this issue. The feedback received showed that both levels of government simply weren’t interested in taking the issue seriously or supporting those organizations that did.
This is incredibly short-sighted.
As a country, we talk a big game – but when it comes to making things happen on the ground, the enthusiasm fades. It should be a source of embarrassment for the government(s) that Australian companies are now turning to foreign governments and funds for capital to help fix our issues here in Australia.
At COP27 Defugo will be presenting a leadership forum that will be highlighting the leaders of both corporations and countries that are taking action and implementing real solutions. Defugo will be highlighting projects that actually have tangible metrics to hold them accountable. In the midst of rising inflation, cost of living increases, an impending climate crisis, and the paradoxical issues of food vulnerability and excess wastage – it seems incredible that only a handful of corporates and governments will be standing with Defugo on that stage. Things need to change.
The Albanese government has the opportunity to be a global leader in climate change, the adoption of Net Zero policies and the development of a framework that others can follow. More specifically, I want to challenge the Federal government to step up at COP27 and get behind meaningful projects that can help us deliver on our Paris commitments as a country. If we can do this looking forward, and with a bias toward action – we can change the outcomes to which we are heading.
There’s no time to waste. It’s time to act.
[1] ‘UN says that if food waste was a country, it would be the #3 global greenhouse gas emitter’ by Melissa C. Lott. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/un-says-that-if-food-waste-was-a-country-ite28099d-be-the-3-global-greenhouse-gas-emitter
[2] ‘Food waste is responsible for 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions’ by Hannah Ritchie. https://ourworldindata.org/food-waste-emissions
