Climate change mitigation and food loss and waste reduction: exploring the business case.

Abstract

The carbon footprint of food loss and waste (FLW) is estimated to be up to 3.49 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (gtCO₂e), representing up to 6-10% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing FLW can reduce the emission intensity of agricultural production. Moreover, many FLW reduction measures are profitable thanks to increased revenues. This study examines the business case for reducing FLW by examining three supply chains in detail: tomatoes in Nigeria, dairy in Kenya, and cereals in Tanzania. The cases reveal key strategies involving enabling environment, credit, business promotion that should inform other efforts to reduce FLW at scale. Additional research is needed to assess social justice and equity and to focus on cases that may directly benefit women.

Key words

• agricultural production
• air pollutants
• air pollution
• animal production
• animal wastes
• businesses
• carbon dioxide
• carbon footprint
• case studies
• cereals
• climate change
• crop production
• crop residues
• dairy farming
• emissions
• environmental management
• food production
• greenhouse gases
• losses
• tomatoes
• waste management