Climate action charity gets $15 million to tackle food waste

Work tackling the huge environmental cost of food waste has been given a massive boost this year, as international climate action NGO WRAP receives catalytic funding from the Ballmer Group.

The fund will support essential work by WRAP and its partners in tackling food loss and waste through existing Voluntary Agreements in Australia, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa.

It will also go towards creating a new food waste voluntary agreement in Brazil. The funding covers ongoing work with money allocated to each nation to increase the systemic Target-Measure-Act approach to reduce food waste across supply chains and in the home, which globally are responsible for around 10 percent of all Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions.

Speaking about the funding the International Director at WRAP, Mr David Rogers said the funding is an absolute game-changer and the largest philanthropic donation the organization has received for its work around the world.

“It marks a transformational moment, bringing substantial, multi-year funding to scale up the impact of food waste voluntary agreements around the world,” he said.

“We are incredibly grateful to The Ballmer Group for the funding at this critical time, with just six years left to halve food waste by 2030.”

According to him, the Public-Private Partnership model, or Voluntary Agreement, utilises a Target-Measure-Act approach to coordinate and drive action by key partners along the global supply chains that produce our food.

Mr Rogers said they can deliver significant and lasting reductions in food waste with the model proving particularly successful in the UK, where the Courtauld 2030 voluntary commitment has seen retailers and manufacturers cut their business food waste by nearly 30 percent.

The Courtauld Commitment 2030 is the UK’s leading mechanism to enable businesses of all sizes to target, measure and act on the biggest sustainability challenges in the food and drink sector.

On other hand, WRAP has helped to establish and support six food pacts, building from the blueprint of the Courtauld 2030 model.

The climate action NGO is working with the partners delivering the agreements in each nation as they adapt the approach to suit their unique situations.

Together, this international network provides a coordinated group of actors aligned to a shared ambition, mirroring the approach WRAP instigated to tackle plastic pollution through a series of national Plastics Pacts.

With offices in the UK, Australia and the USA, WRAP works globally with governments, businesses, and communities to deliver practical solutions to improve resource efficiency within the food system, plastics and textiles.

The organisation takes UK learning and successes and works with in-country partners to develop programmes that fully address the needs of the local area.

It has programmes operating in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Americas.