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Target 12.3

Food Loss & Waste

target 12.3

By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.

Indicator 12.3.1a

Food Loss Index

The Sub-indicator for this target, The Food Loss Index (FLI) measures losses along the food supply chain starting from post-harvest losses on the farm up to but not including retail stage.

Reducing food loss and waste is critical to reduce production costs and increase the efficiency of the food system, improve food security and nutrition, and contribute towards environmental sustainability. According to the State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) report of 2019, the percentage of food lost after harvest on farm and at the transport, storage and processing stages stands at 13.8 per cent globally, amounting to at least 400 billion USD.

Data collection efforts are urgently needed in countries to target interventions at critical stages of the value chain and reduce food losses and waste.

Global and Regional Progress

Custodian Agencies

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

FAO is a leading actor in coordinating global initiatives, activities and projects on food loss and waste reduction, partnering with UN agencies, other international organizations, the private sector and civil society. It is the custodian agency for Target 12.3: ´By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.`.

FAO is the custodian agency of Sub-Indicator 12.3.1a which measures Food Losses through its Food Loss Index (FLI). The FLI measures the changes in percentage losses of a country over time by comparing the percentage losses in the current period to percentage losses in the base year. The index covers the supply stages of food chains, from harvest up to but not including retail. The objective is to show the impact of policy and investment of the efficiency of the supply chain.

FAO collaborates with donors, bi- and multi-lateral agencies, financial institutions and private sector partners to develop and implement programmes on food loss and waste reduction, such as SAVE FOOD: Global Initiative on Food Loss and Waste Reduction. FAO also manages the Food Loss and Waste Database, the largest online collection of data on both food loss and food waste and causes reported throughout literature. This database aims to help monitor the state of food loss, and gathers data and information from almost 500 publications, reports, and studies from organizations like the World Bank, GIZ, FAO, IFPRI, and more.

Responsible for:

FAO Statistics Division

  • Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
  • sdg-indicators@fao.org

Guidance material

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Metadata 12.3.1a

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E-Learning

FAO E-Learning Academy Course - SDG 12.3.1a

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Indicator 12.3.1a

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Methodology
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SDG 12.3.1: Global Food Loss Index - Methodology for monitoring SDG Target 12.3

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Indicator 12.3.1b

Food Waste Index

The Food Waste Index, measures food waste at retail and consumer level (households and food service). UNEP is its custodian. In contrast to the Food Loss Index, the Food Waste Index measures total food waste (rather than loss or waste associated with specific commodities). The Food Waste Index allows countries to measure and report on food loss generated in manufacturing processes, which would not be captured under key commodity losses by the Food Loss Index.

According to the Food Waste Index Report 2021/WESR, in 2019 an estimated 931 million tons of food went into the waste bins of households, retailers, restaurants and other food services. This amounts to 17% of the total food available to consumers, twice previous estimates. At the same time, an estimated 690 million people, or 8.9 percent of the global population, were undernourished in the same year. Reducing food waste at retail, food service and household levels can provide multi-faceted benefits for climate action, food security and environmental protection. Moreover, according to the FAO, food wastage costs USD 1 trillion per year in economic costs, USD 700 billion in environmental costs, and USD 900 billion in social costs. This makes food waste reduction a key action area for economic efficiency and sustainable development.

The opportunities behind food waste reduction have remained largely untapped and under-exploited. This is in part due to a lack of data needed to identify challenges and plan action. The UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2021 begins to address these data gaps by identifying of wide range of existing food waste data (152 food waste data points in 54 countries) and making estimations for countries without baselines through extrapolation. This constitutes Level 1 of the Food Waste Index approach.

SDG

The Food Waste Index Report provides a common methodology for countries to measure food waste and report progress on SDG 12.3, at two levels of granularity (Levels 2 and 3 in above diagram). Member States are invited to use this methodology to measure and report national data.

Global and Regional Progress

Custodian Agencies

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has been promoting the shift to Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) patterns for the past two decades. It is the custodian agency responsible for 8 out of 12 indicators under SDG 12.

UNEP guides policy development for SCP through its global frameworks, networks, programmes and partnerships, through knowledge-sharing and facilitating access to science, policy guidance, technical tools and best practices.

UNEP contributes to SDG 12.2, “achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources”, by strengthening and communicating the knowledge and scientific base for resource efficiency and SCP. This includes scientific information on natural resource use and “decoupling opportunities” as a basis for evidence-based policymaking.

Additionally, UNEP works on strengthening the sound management of chemicals and waste by supporting parties to the multilateral environmental agreements to meet their respective obligations. This work supports SDG 12.4 ‘achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment.’ UNEP also hosts the secretariats for several waste and chemicals-related multilateral environmental agreements and implements initiatives targeting various types of waste, including food waste and hazardous waste and chemicals.

As part of its actions towards SDG 12.6, “Encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle.”, UNEP collaborates with the private sector in partnerships promoting innovation, technological solutions and financing to tackle our most pressing global environmental challenges. UNEP fosters partnerships with business and industry to promote green investments and apply sustainable business practices across value chains. It also promotes and builds capacity in corporate sustainability reporting.

Clementine O’Connor

  • Programme Officer - Sustainable Food Systems
  • United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
  • clementine.oconnor@un.org

UNEP Science Division

  • SDG Unit
  • United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
  • unep-science-sdgs@un.org

Guidance material

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Metadata 12.3.1b

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Guidelines and Manuals

UNSD Questionnaire on Environment Statistics

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E-Learning

Online Course: Environmental SDG Indicators

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