As global leaders gather for Climate Week NYC, global environmental action NGO WRAP is highlighting the impact already being delivered by tackling food waste, and the opportunity to accelerate action globally. 

Case studies from businesses and across WRAP’s Food Pact Network show what action can deliver for businesses, people and the planet. At Climate Week NYC, WRAP will join WRI, WWF, ReFED and The Global FoodBanking Network for Food Waste: The Climate Opportunity on Our Plate, exploring how greater collaboration can accelerate action on food waste.

The five-star Fairmont Jakarta hotel in Indonesia, part of Accor Group – one of the world’s leading hospitality groups – focused on practical, low or no-cost interventions including finding uses for fruit trimmings, adjusting buffet service, and expanding food donation to address food waste. During a pilot lasting two weeks, these and other interventions delivered a 25% drop in food waste saving the hotel more than US$216,000 a year, and avoiding 118 tonnes CO₂e. 

Catherine David, CEO WRAP, said of the enormous savings on offer, “At a time when businesses and households are facing rising costs, and governments are searching for solutions to climate and economic challenges, we have a huge opportunity hiding in plain sight: preventing food from becoming waste. By acting to prevent food waste, we can put money back into people’s pockets and reduce the pressure on our precious land and natural resources. Many countries around the world are already taking action: we know what works, now is the time to scale it.”  

Every year, more than one billion tonnes of food is lost or wasted globally, contributing to around 8–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This food goes to waste while more than 780 million people face hunger, and costs the global economy around USD $1 trillion.

Serving more than one million meals a day across 2,000 sites, Sodexo UK & Ireland, a founding member of the UK Food & Drink Pact, has worked with WRAP since 2015. Supported by WRAP’s Target-Measure-Actframework, Sodexo has built a data-driven approach to food waste prevention combining measurement with a suite of practical interventions. This has helped build skills across the business over many years to better forecast and plan, to use ingredients in smarter ways, and has helped to train colleagues to avoid expensive food waste. 

The company cut food waste by 50.2% by the end of FY2025, achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 five years ahead of schedule. Since its 2015 baseline, Sodexo UK&I has prevented 2,053 tonnes of pre-consumer food waste and recorded £3.6 million in food-cost savings over a 10-year period, during which significant investment was made. 

In Mexico, Fairmont Mayakoba reduced food waste per cover by approximately 39% over a three-month period, from 458g to 270g, delivering estimated annual savings of US$1.31million through targeted changes to buffet management, production planning and surplus redistribution.

In South Africa, Tiger Brands, one of Africa’s largest food and consumer goods manufacturers and a signatory to the South African Food Loss and Waste Initiative, reduced food waste by 50% ahead of its 2030 target. By focusing on material losses and manufacturing processes across its operations, the company improved efficiency and delivered significant financial savings.

Food waste prevention helps businesses to improve efficiency, reduce costs and strengthen resilience while helping people to make their money go further – an important consideration amid fluctuating global food prices. 

The Food Pact Network connects more than 920 organisations across ten national and regional Food Pacts, bringing together businesses, governments and partners via locally led and globally connected action. The Food Pact Network has already stopped 220,000 tonnes of food from going to waste, preventing 680,000 tonnes CO₂e from entering the atmosphere. The Network has redistributed more than 2.7 million tonnes of surplus food via charitable and commercial outlets. 

WRAP is using Climate Week NYC to make the case for greater collaborative action on food waste. On Wednesday 23 September, the NGO will join WRI, WWF, The Global FoodBanking Network and ReFED to host Food Waste: The Climate Opportunity on Our Plate to explore the climate, business and social opportunities of tackling food waste and the role of country-based Pacts and partnerships in accelerating action. 

The move comes as the United Nations Champions 12.3 programme publishes its annual Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 2026 progress report. This concludes that “the world must start looking at what comes next in the fight to reduce food loss and waste and look at how to scale up the solutions that are currently succeeding in isolated locations.”

Catherine David, “Few climate solutions deliver such a powerful combination of benefits. Preventing food waste cuts emissions, improves food security, saves businesses money and helps households stretch their budgets further. Yet despite this, food waste prevention remains significantly underfunded. The opportunity now is to move from proven success stories to global scale. We know what works. The challenge is mobilising the investment and partnerships needed to accelerate it.”

WRAP is rallying businesses and policymakers worldwide to transform the food, textiles, and manufacturing systems driving our economies, accelerating Circular Living – a design-make-reuse approach that slashes waste, cuts carbon and redefines consumption.