Over one billion tons of the world’s food is lost or wasted every year. The enormous social, economic and environmental effects of this waste prompted the UN Sustainable Development Goal’s call to halve the world’s food loss and waste by 2030. To achieve this goal, governments and companies first need help identifying food loss and waste hotspots and where to concentrate their efforts. 

The Food Waste Atlas is a one-stop-shop for transparent, up-to-date food loss and waste data categorized by food type, geography or stage in the supply chain. Governments and companies can share their own data and gather information to set their own food loss and waste targets in line with the Sustainable Development Goal’s Target 12.3. They can also develop policies and programs to address hotspots. 

Governments, companies, reporters and other users can use the Food Waste Atlas to:  

  • Access 150,000+ global data points to help develop baselines and appropriate targets. 
  • Align their measurement with international standards and share data transparently. 
  • Gain insights on food loss and waste by product, region and country, and take action to reduce food loss and waste. 
  • Report clearly and consistently on food loss and waste data over time. 

To meet the Sustainable Development Goals’ Target 12.3, companies and governments need to share their food waste inventories in a credible and internationally consistent manner. Built for the global Food Loss and Waste Accounting and Reporting Standard, the Food Waste Atlas provides this necessary consistency. This global standard — developed the Food Loss and Waste Protocol — provides requirements and guidance for how countries, companies and other organizations quantify and report how much food loss and waste is created and where it occurs, facilitating efforts to reduce it. 

Photo Credit: Jessica Ruscello/Unsplash.