Contact: Lauren Zelin, World Resources Institute, (202) 729-7736, lzelin@wri.org
Contact: Kim van Seeters, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Directorate General Agriculture and Nature, The Netherlands, kim-van.seeters@minbuza.nl
Six additional business leaders, government ministers, and global institution executives join 35-member coalition to increase political and social momentum to achieve Target 12.3 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Key points:
- Target 12.3 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aims to halve food waste and reduce food loss globally by 2030
- Nearly 1/3 of all food is lost or wasted globally, costing $940 billion per year
- If food loss and waste were a country, it would be the third-largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world behind China and the United States
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 21, 2016)— Ahead of the United Nations General Assembly High-level Thematic Debate on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement signing ceremony, the Champions 12.3 coalition announced six new international leaders joining its effort to inspire ambition and mobilize action to reduce global food loss and waste.
The leadership group supports the UN SDGs adopted in September 2015. SDG 12 seeks to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. Target 12.3 specifically aims to halve per capita global food waste at retail and consumer levels, and reduce food losses along production and supply chains by 2030.
Champions 12.3 launched at the 2016 World Economic Forum with CEOs of major companies, government ministers, and executives of research and intergovernmental institutions, foundations, farmer organizations, and civil society groups.
The new Champions are:
- John Bryant, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Kellogg Company
- Michel Landel, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Executive Committee, Sodexo Group
- Esben Lunde Larsen, Minister for the Environment and Food, Denmark
- José Antonio Meade, Secretary of Social Development, Mexico
- Rafael Pacchiano, Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources, Mexico
- Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, Chief Executive Officer and Head of Mission of the Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN)
The newly announced Champions are already showing leadership on food loss and waste. For example:
- Kellogg Company has reduced waste sent to landfills by more than 60 percent since 2005, including food waste, and remains committed to ensuring edible food waste is donated to feed people in need, when appropriate. Since the 2013 launch of its Breakfasts for Better Days program, Kellogg has provided more than 1.4 billion servings of cereal and snacks to those in need.
- Sodexo recently co-founded the International Food Waste Coalition with major actors including Ardo, McCain, PepsiCo, SCA, Unilever Food Solutions, and the World Wildlife Fund.
- FANRPAN is reviewing food security policy frameworks and undertaking research to determine how evidence-based policies can reduce quantitative and qualitative food loss both on the farm, and from farm to fork.
Today’s announcement follows yesterday’s action by Natural Resources Defense Council president and Champion Rhea Suh launching “Save the Food,” a national public service announcement campaign along with the Ad Council, aimed at reducing U.S. food waste from consumers.
The Champions are working to create political, business and social momentum to reduce food loss and waste around the world through:
- Leading by example on how to reduce food loss and waste;
- Motivating others to meet SDG Target 12.3;
- Communicating the importance of food loss and waste reduction;
- Showcasing successful food loss and waste reduction strategies; and
- Advocating for more innovation, greater investment, better information, and increased capacity to reduce food loss and waste.
Inspired by the “No More Food to Waste” conference in The Hague in June of 2015, the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands formally called for the coalition’s formation in September 2015, and is providing secretariat support for Champions 12.3, along with World Resources Institute.
See the full list of champions and get more information at: www.champions123.org.
QUOTES FROM NEW CHAMPIONS:
“Kellogg Company is more than a business – we are a company with heart and soul. We care about nourishing people with our foods, feeding those in need, nurturing our planet and living our founder’s values,” said John Bryant, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Kellogg Company. “As a global food company, we have a significant role to play in helping end hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture. In joining Champions 12.3, we are further demonstrating our support of the Sustainable Development Goals, and our commitment to helping reduce food waste by 50 percent by 2030.”
“Minimizing food waste is an integral part of creating an effective sustainable consumption system for the future. Worldwide, more than 30 percent of produced food is never consumed, while more than 800 million people still suffer from hunger and malnutrition,” said Michel Landel, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Executive Committee, Sodexo Group. “Recently Sodexo co-founded the International Food Waste Coalition with major actors including Ardo, McCain, PepsiCo, SCA, Unilever Food Solutions, and the WWF, to act to reverse this trend. Our common challenge is to minimize waste throughout the value chain, ‘from the field to the fork,’ an urgent mission given the high economic, social, and environmental cost of waste, and one which resonates strongly with Sodexo’s commitment to improve quality of life in the communities we serve.”
“Food loss and waste is a huge challenge for global food security, human livelihoods and the conservation of the environment that calls for global responses and individual action,” said Esben Lunde Larsen, Minister for the Environment and Food, Denmark. “Denmark is ready to take its share and to engage in a new solution-based global partnership. One of the initiatives we have launched is a national partnership for reduction of avoidable food waste, which will foster voluntary and binding collaboration between all links in the food chain and relevant authorities and organizations, as solutions and barriers should be addressed across all stakeholders.”
“If food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest polluter in the world, releasing 3.3 gigatonnes of CO2e to the environment. Mexico joins this initiative to raise awareness on this link between food waste and climate change,” said Rafael Pacchiano, Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources, Mexico. “When more than 800 million people face food insecurity, while over a third of the food produced is wasted, something has to be done. A change in our behavior as consumers is essential.”
“Poverty, hunger, and malnutrition are amplified by policies that are not implementable,” said Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, Chief Executive Officer and Head of Mission, Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN). “Working with FANRPAN, I commit to ensure increased understanding, uptake, and implementation of evidence-based policy that is impactful, coherent, inclusive, reduces waste and enhances resilience to climate change, promotes nutrition-sensitive agriculture, and improves prosperity, food and nutrition safety.”
Quotes from all Champions are available online at www.champions123.org and by request.
Champions 12.3 includes:
- Dave Lewis (Group Chief Executive, Tesco – Chair)
- Achim Steiner (Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme – Co-Chair)
- Vytenis Andriukaitis (European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety)
- Peter Bakker (President, World Business Council for Sustainable Development)
- John Bryant (Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Kellogg Company)
- Paul Bulcke (Chief Executive Officer, Nestlé)
- Wiebe Draijer (Chairman of the Executive Board, Rabobank)
- Shenggen Fan (Director General, International Food Policy Research Institute)
- Louise Fresco (President of the Executive Board, Wageningen University)
- Liz Goodwin (Chief Executive Officer, Waste and Resources Action Programme)
- Hans Hoogeveen (Vice Minister for Agriculture, The Netherlands)
- Yolanda Kakabadse (President, WWF International)
- Sam Kass (Senior Food Analyst at NBC News and former U.S. White House Chef)
- Michel Landel (Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Executive Committee, Sodexo Group)
- Esben Lunde Larsen (Minister of Environment and Food, Denmark)
- José Antonio Meade, Secretary of Social Development, Mexico
- Gina McCarthy (Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
- Evelyn Nguleka (President, World Farmers’ Organisation)
- Kanayo Nwanze (President, International Fund for Agricultural Development)
- Raymond Offenheiser (President, Oxfam America)
- Rafael Pacchiano (Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources, Mexico)
- Cao Duc Phat (Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam)
- Paul Polman (Chief Executive Officer, Unilever)
- Juan Lucas Restrepo Ibiza (Chairman, Global Forum on Agricultural Research)
- Judith Rodin (President, The Rockefeller Foundation)
- Oyun Sanjaasuren (President of United Nations Environment Assembly and Member of Parliament of Mongolia)
- Lindiwe Majele Sibanda (Chief Executive Officer and Head of Mission, Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network – FANRPAN)
- Feike Sijbesma (Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Managing Board, Royal DSM)
- Andrew Steer (President and Chief Executive Officer, World Resources Institute)
- Tristram Stuart (Founder, Feedback)
- Rhea Suh (President, Natural Resources Defense Council)
- Rhoda Peace Tumusiime (Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, The African Union)
- Sunny Verghese (Co-Founder, Group Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Olam International)
- Tom Vilsack (Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture)
- Senzeni Zokwana (Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Republic of South Africa)
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World Resources Institute
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No More Food to Waste
The Netherlands teamed up with key partners Viet Nam, UNEP, FAO and African Union Commission to organize a global multi-stakeholder conference last June in The Hague. The Conference NO MORE FOOD TO WASTE laid bare the link between food loss and waste, food security, climate change, and sustainable development. To help convert Sustainable Development Goal target 12.3 into reality, the No More Food to Waste Conference proposed the formation of Champions 12.3. http://www.nomorefoodtowaste.nl/