Back in July 2021, a study by the World Wide Fund for Nature and Tesco revealed that 40% of the world’s food was wasted. Now, a comparative analysis conducted by researchers at Nanjing Forestry University in China, in conjunction with the National University of Singapore, is putting into stark relief the environmental disaster this vast waste represents.
The global food system is responsible for about one-third of total annual greenhouse gas emissions. In total, in 2017, scientists estimated that food waste generated 9.3 billion tonnes of CO2 (expressed in GtCO2e in the study published in the journal “Nature Food”).
By comparison, this sum is almost equal to the combined total emissions of the United States and the European Union. And this is not without consequences for the planet: food waste is indeed responsible for half of the carbon emissions generated by the food industry.
By analysing food supply data, this study provides new insights into the extent of the impact of food waste. It should be noted that in terms of supply, harvesting as well as production, storage, transport, processing and sale are included.
Scientists have taken into account data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation related to no less than 164 countries and regions between 2001 and 2017.
In addition, the data of 54 food products corresponding to four major categories – cereals and pulses, meats and animal products, roots and oil plants, and fruits and vegetables – have been scrutinised.
The findings show that when the data associated with China, India, the US and Brazil are combined, these giants generate about 44% of the world’s supply-related emissions from food waste.
And it’s not grain, fruit or vegetable waste that is primarily responsible for CO2 emissions: meat and animal products are responsible for 73.4% of it. Processing beef and lamb generates 13 times more carbon emissions than processing tomatoes.
The study wanted to look at the combination of food supply and waste management, as well as the consequences, to provide a broad, realistic view of the environmental impact of food waste.
Once again, when China, the US, India and Brazil are combined, these four countries generate 38% of global emissions linked to waste management.
The UN has set a goal of reducing food waste by half by 2030 as one of its Sustainable Development Goals.