Food Loss and Waste Policy Atlas: Feed the World; Save the Planet 

A new approach to redirect global food waste to feed its inhabitants could also mitigate some of the biggest challenges of climate change. 

The Global Food Donation Policy Atlas, known simply as The Atlas, claims to offer the most comprehensive examination of food loss and waste (FLW) and food donation policies in countries around the world, having worked directly in over 25 countries. Created by Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) and The Global FoodBanking Network (GFN), it aims to find solutions to global FLW and food insecurity through a circular economy approach. 

Around the world, a staggering one-third of food is either lost or wasted, despite over 2.4 billion people facing food insecurity. Typically, this waste ends up in landfills, where it breaks down and releases greenhouse gases (GHGs), fueling climate change. Alarmingly, FLW contributes to 8-10% of global GHG emissions. The problem spans across the entire food supply chain, from production and processing to storage, transportation, and consumer use. Despite the clear challenges associated with FLW, existing laws in most countries make it cheaper and easier to send food to rot in a landfill instead of donating it.  

To cut down on food waste significantly, it is crucial to establish policies that incentivize action across the entire food system. The Atlas uses national legal and policy frameworks related to FLW to design solutions for reducing food waste and addressing the often-complicated issues surrounding food redistribution. With Harvard’s FLPC providing legal expertise, GFN, which supports community-led solutions to alleviate hunger in nearly 50 countries, contributes practical insights and feedback from local partners. The initiative states that the Atlas has now become an indispensable tool for policymakers and practitioners focused on reducing food waste. 

The initiative claims that by reducing the environmental footprint of food production and waste, The Atlas supports the health of ecosystems and diversity of species. It addresses the ways in which the global food system interacts with the major Earth systems: the geosphere by reducing the strain on resources and optimizing land use to preserve natural habitats and biodiversity; the hydrosphere by implementing effective food donation policies which reduces the amount of water unnecessarily used in food that becomes waste; the atmosphere by reducing methane emissions produced from food rotting in landfills; and the biosphere by enhancing food security and improving efficient use of natural resources.  

Aligned with the principles of the circular economy, redirected surplus food becomes food for those most in need in a closed-loop system. The circular economy approach is crucial in slowing climate change and has the potential to protect the environment, reduce hunger, improve health outcomes, and enhance economic stability.  

Now the team plans to widen the Atlas’s horizons and drive global policy changes by tackling a broader suite of FLW policies which will promote sustainable, locally driven policy initiatives. Since policy is key to altering behaviors, offering incentives, and educating the public and policymakers, the initiative suggests that its influence could be profound. 

Learn more about The Atlas.

Written by Gilly Smith
Photos provided by Harvard Law and The Global FoodBanking Network