“We are proud to have supported the WWF-UK and Tesco Partnership to design, execute and write this influential and impactful report.
The report provides governments, farmers, support agencies and businesses around the world with the information needed to redouble and refocus their food waste reduction efforts towards primary production. Actions here are essential to improve livelihoods, reduce environmental impacts and contribute to a more habitable planet.”
Dr Julian Parfitt
Technical Director – Anthesis
Anthesis has supported the WWF-UK and Tesco Partnership to deliver the ‘Driven to Waste’ report, which measures the scale and impact of global food waste on farms and at fisheries.
WWF-UK commissioned Anthesis to design and deliver the research and write the technical report published alongside ‘Driven to Waste’, which addresses the current scale, value, drivers, and environmental impact of farm-stage food waste and the change needed to support reductions. Anthesis’ approach involved the compilation and analysis of food waste datasets, integration with environmental modelling of key impact categories, and qualitative research across 10 key food commodities.
Key insights from the report:
- Each year, an estimated 2.5 billion tonnes of food goes uneaten around the world, including food wasted on farms, in shops, restaurants, food processing and at home, an increase of nearly 1 billion tonnes on previous estimates of 1.3 billion tonnes wasted annually.
- Of all the food grown, around 40 per cent of it goes uneaten, which is higher than the previously predicted figure of 33 per cent.
- The total food waste and loss seen throughout the whole supply chain amounts to 10 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions – equivalent of nearly twice the emissions produced by all the cars driven in the US and Europe, in one year.
