Climate Adaptation
The Global Food Waste Crisis Is Even Bigger Than We Thought
- Some 40% of food gets wasted from farm to fork: WWF report
- Wealthier countries countribute over 50% of harvest waste
A dumpster diver picks through discarded food items in the back lot of a supermarket in Berlin.
Photographer: John Macdougall/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
More than 2 billion tons of food goes uneaten around the world, almost double than previously thought, according to a new report.
An estimated 2.5 billion tons of food was lost on farms or wasted by retailers or consumers globally, accounting for about 40% of production, according to research by World Wildlife Fund and U.K. retailer Tesco Plc. The figure tops the previous estimates by about 1.2 billion tons, with farming in wealthier countries being a bigger offender than assumed, they said in a report.