This is an official COP30 Action Agenda Event under Activation Group 15 ‘Solid Waste Management’
Date: 13 November 2025
Time: 9:30- 10:30 BRT
Location: COP30 Action Agenda Thematic Spaces, Blue Zone
Organizers: UN Environment Programme, UN Climate Champions, ICLEI- Local Governments for Sustainabilit, Global FoodBanking Network
Description:
The world wastes over a billion tonnes of food each year —equivalent to 19% of all food available to consumers—across retail, food service, and households. This occurs while 783 million people remain hungry, and one-third of humanity faces food insecurity. Further, food waste contributes to up to 14% of total global methane emissions, underscoring the urgent need to improve the sustainability of food systems.
Against this backdrop, this session will showcase solutions and actions to fight hunger, lower emissions, and enhance climate resilience in cities, culminating in the launch of the Food Waste Breakthrough. The Breakthrough is a five-year plan to mobilize cities and food businesses to cut food waste in half. It demonstrate how consumer behaviour change, public private partnerships, circular food systems, and food waste deterrence policies can substantially reduce food waste moving beyond awareness raising and voluntary action.
The Food Waste Breakthrough is designed to accelerate implementation of the COP28 Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action, as well as the COP29 Declaration on Reducing Methane from Organic Waste. It also supports the objectives of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, launched under the G20 Brazil Presidency in 2024.
