Ten years of Champions 12.3, we take a look at what the coalition has built since 2016 and what still has to happen before 2030.
When Champions 12.3 formed in 2016, food loss and waste was a fringe concern in most boardrooms and climate plans. Ten years on, it has a shared playbook, a place in national climate commitments, and a growing body of evidence that reducing food waste is a proven benefit to business objectives.
A Decade of Impact documents what the coalition and its members achieved between 2016 and 2025 across ten areas of work — from putting food loss and waste on the global agenda, to building the Target-Measure-Act approach now used by companies and countries alike, to catalyzing corporate action through 10x20x30 and farmer-level action through 10x20kx30. It also sets out where Champions will focus next, with five years left to halve food loss and waste by 2030.
Highlights from ten years of coalition work include:
- A shared approach. Target-Measure-Act became the generally accepted method for companies and countries to tackle food loss and waste, tracked annually against the Road Map to Achieving SDG Target 12.3.
- The business case, proven. The 2017 study The Business Case for Reducing Food Loss and Waste found 99% of sites saw a positive return on investment, with half seeing better than 14:1.
- Corporate results. Of the ten multinational companies with the largest food loss and waste reductions to date, eight are 10x20x30 members. Ingka Group (IKEA) became the first major company to reach a 50% reduction.
- Farmer-level action. The 10x20kx30 Initiative brings together ten farmgate-facing companies, each engaging 20,000 supplying farmers. Olam Agri's shift to mechanized harvesting in Nigeria's rice supply chain cut losses by more than 45% and raised farmer profit by an average of $389.
- Policy movement. Nine countries — including Cambodia, Chile, Mexico, South Africa and the UK — included food loss and waste in their 2025 NDC updates for the first time.
- New finance. The World Bank issued nearly US$8 billion in Sustainable Development Bonds highlighting food loss and waste; Rabobank launched an SDG 12.3 loan rewarding reduction with lower interest rates. Standards and measurement. ISO released draft standard ISO/DIS 20001 in September 2025, informed by the FLW Protocol.