FOOD LOSS & WASTE REDUCTION SUPPORTING A CIRCULAR FOOD ECONOMY

WWF advocates for a circular food economy to address the fact that up to 40% of food produced for human consumption is wasted annually. This inefficiency contributes to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and costs society $1.1 trillion globally. WWF's approach focuses on three pillars: farm circularity and nutrition, circular supply chains, and policy and community advocacy. The organization leverages its global network and partnerships, including the 'Food is Never Waste' coalition and the '123 Pledge Campaign', to halve per-capita global food waste by 2030. Additionally, the WWF Impact platform provides catalytic investing and market partnerships to fund innovations that repurpose wasted food.

• Food loss and waste (FLW) represents a massive systemic inefficiency, with as much as 40% of food produced for human consumption wasted annually. This results in a global societal cost of $1.1 trillion and accounts for 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions, which is four times the emissions of the global airline industry.
• The environmental impact of food waste is severe; the land required to grow food that is lost on farms alone exceeds the size of the Indian subcontinent and could feed the world's undernourished population four times over. Furthermore, food waste utilizes more than 25% of available freshwater annually.
• WWF's strategy is aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3, aiming to halve per-capita global food waste by 2030. To achieve this, WWF focuses on waste prevention, the redistribution of surplus food, repurposing organic materials, and recycling inedible waste.
• WWF employs a three-pillar framework to transition to a circular food economy: empowering producers through regenerative and circular practices (Farm Circularity & Nutrition), promoting pre-competitive collaboration and circular business models (Circular Supply Chains), and expanding K-12 education and policy advocacy (Policy & Community Advocacy).
• WWF utilizes its 'WWF Impact' platform to accelerate market transformation in food circularity through two financial strategies: Catalytic Investing for early-stage entrepreneurs and Market Partnerships with established investment managers to scale sustainability benefits.

APA

WWF International (n.d.). FOOD LOSS & WASTE REDUCTION SUPPORTING A CIRCULAR FOOD ECONOMY. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/543/8iyv73njfa_195lhxe0on_2024_FLW_Factsheet_240523.1.pdf

Chicago

WWF International. FOOD LOSS & WASTE REDUCTION SUPPORTING A CIRCULAR FOOD ECONOMY. n.d. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/543/8iyv73njfa_195lhxe0on_2024_FLW_Factsheet_240523.1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF International |title=FOOD LOSS & WASTE REDUCTION SUPPORTING A CIRCULAR FOOD ECONOMY |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/543/8iyv73njfa_195lhxe0on_2024_FLW_Factsheet_240523.1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfinternationalndfood, author = {{WWF International}}, title = {{FOOD LOSS \& WASTE REDUCTION SUPPORTING A CIRCULAR FOOD ECONOMY}}, institution = {WWF International}, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/543/8iyv73njfa_195lhxe0on_2024_FLW_Factsheet_240523.1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }