Launch event for the Collective Impact Coalition on Food Loss and Waste

Background 

The World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) launched the Collective Impact Coalitions (CICs) in 2021 to provide a space for Allies and stakeholders to take forward cross-sector, collaborative action based on data and evidence provided by WBA benchmarks.  

These CICs are multi-stakeholder and timebound, bringing together diverse actors from large institutional investors to civil society, academia and business platforms to coordinate and collaborate on actions to drive positive changes on systematically important topics. These CICs are key to ensuring corporate accountability on sustainable development. 

The WBA Food and Agriculture Transformation led a CIC in 2021 on regenerative agriculture that aimed to promote agroecological practices that benefit biodiversity, climate, and small-scale producers. 

From 2024 to 2026, the transformation will bring together a new CIC on Food Loss and Waste (FLW). FLW is increasingly on the agenda at international climate negotiations, including the most recent COP28. SDG 12.3 explicitly calls for a 50% reduction in per capita food waste by 2030. At a time where 828 million people go hungry every day while over 3 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet, more than one-third of all food produced worldwide is never eaten, and the consequences are profound. FLW deprives farmers of income, costs consumers money, exacerbates biodiversity loss, and causes at least 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing FLW is a powerful way to improve food systems and is critical to delivering on the Paris Agreement and the Global Methane Pledge. Hence, addressing FLW emerges not only as a pivotal priority but also as a substantial opportunity, spanning the environmental, nutritional, and social dimensions of food systems transformation throughout the entire value chain. 

The first phase of the CIC on FLW will gather a group of multi-stakeholders who influence companies, with WBA Allies at its core. CIC members take coordinated actions to incentivize key companies to improve their performance on FLW. Progress is measured over time using the WBA Food and Agriculture Benchmark and annual Progress Reports. WBA acts as a convenor for the CIC and co-creates an action plan with CIC members. The CIC will target downstream (Food loss) and upstream companies (Food waste). 

Objectives of the CIC 

The CIC’s main objective is for multinational food and agriculture companies to improve their performance on FLW by setting targets aligned with the SDG 12.3 agenda and measuring progress against it. 

1. Deepen the awareness of the importance of FLW reduction amongst companies and key stakeholders.
2. Leverage the influence of companies’ stakeholders to call for company action. 
3. Incentivise, measure and evaluate corporate action for setting a target to reduce FLW and report progress against it. 

Launch event of the CIC on Food Loss and Waste 

The event will feature a presentation of the CIC on FLW followed by a Q&A with the participants. Register using the link below to participate in the virtual event on Tuesday, July 30, 2024:

• AM webinar: 10:00 – 11:00 CEST 
• PM webinar: 16:00 – 17:00 CEST 

If you have questions on the event or how to join the CIC on FLW, please contact Rayan Kassem, Engagement Manager, World Benchmarking Alliance on r.kassem@worldbenchmarkingalliance.org.