Annual food waste worth $1 trillion, says UN

More than 1 billion meals are wasted daily and more than $1 trillion worth of food is wasted annually, according to the latest United Nations Food Waste Index Report.

In 2022, the world generated 1.05 billion tonnes of food waste; almost one fifth of the food available to consumers, the report found.

Of that, households generated 60%, the food service sector was responsible for 28% and retail for 12%.

“Food waste is a global tragedy. Millions will go hungry today as food is wasted across the world,” said Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

“Not only is this a major development issue, but the impacts of such unnecessary waste are causing substantial costs to the climate and nature,” she said.

Food production generates around one quarter of of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Food loss and waste generates between 8 and 10% of annual global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to the UN.

Reducing food waste would decrease the environmental cost of food production by using less water, land and energy in production.