NEW DELHI: Globally, food waste (including inedible parts) will be generated at 1.05 billion tonnes in 2022, equivalent to almost one-fifth of all food available to consumers, and the world's An average of 79 kg of food is wasted per household per year. According to the United Nations Environment Program's (UNEP) Food Waste Index Report 2024, released on Wednesday, it amounts to 55 kg per person per year in India.
The report, which incorporates 2022 data, highlighted that food losses and waste in supply chains cost the global economy an estimated $1 trillion.
The report shows that food waste from all households adds up to at least 1 billion edible meals each day, while 783 million people are affected by hunger and a third of humanity is food insecure. He pointed out that he was facing.
Incidentally, the weight of global food waste in 2022 was more than India's total production of food grains, oilseeds, sugarcane and horticulture crops combined in 2022-23.
Of the total food wasted globally in 2022, 60% occurred at the household level, 28% at the food service level, and 12% at retail stores. Country-specific food waste data confirms that such waste is not just a problem for “rich countries,” with high-income, upper-middle-income, and lower-middle income countries The level of waste is slightly different from the average level observed. 7kg per person.
At the same time, hotter countries appear to generate more food waste per capita in their households. This can be attributed to the high consumption of fresh foods, which often contain inedible parts, and the lack of a strong cold chain.
This is UNEP's second such report, after the first in 2021, which took into account food waste in 2019. A comparison with the latest report released on Wednesday shows annual per capita food waste at household level is increasing globally. In 2019 he increased from 74 kg to 2022 he increased to 79 kg. Similarly, in India it increased from 50 kg/person/year to 55 kg/person/year during the same period. Annual per capita food waste at the household level was highest in the Maldives at 207 kg/person/year in 2022.
Expanding
“Food waste is a global tragedy. Food is wasted around the world and millions of people will go hungry today. This is not only a major development problem; The impacts of unnecessary waste are creating huge costs for the climate and nature,” said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen.
Recent data shows that food loss and waste generates 8-10% of the world's annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (almost five times the aviation sector) and nearly a third of the world's agricultural output. , causing significant biodiversity loss. land.
Yet only 21 countries have included food loss and waste reduction in their national climate plans under the Paris Agreement, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Furthermore, only four G20 countries (Australia, Japan, the UK and the US) and the European Union have food waste estimates suitable to track progress by 2030.
In this context, the Food Waste Index report could serve as a practical guide for countries to consistently measure and report food waste, and also help drive climate change ambitions. There may be an attempt to incorporate it into the next NDCs in 2025 in order to increase the
Many low- and middle-income countries now have a system for tracking progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of halving food waste by 2030, particularly in retail and food services. Appropriate systems are still lacking.