Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, PO Box 9518, Leiden 2300 RA, The Netherlands.
Metabolic Institute, Klimopweg 150, Amsterdam 1032 HX, The Netherlands.
Environ Sci Technol. 2024 Aug 6;58(31):13707-13716. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.4c04140. Epub 2024 Jul 29.
Avoidable consumer food waste (ACFW) is a global environmental issue wasting key resources and causing emissions, especially in high food-producing nations. We trace ACFW to its origin to assess emissions, water use, and land use. We show that ACFW impacts are dominated by commodities like beef, dairy, rice, and wheat. Over 80% of impacts are domestic, but impacts embodied in trade affect a few major food-producing countries under environmental pressure. A 50% reduction in ACFW could save up to 198 Mt CO2eq in emissions, 30 Gm of blue water, and 99 Mha of land. Targeting key commodities in impactful countries (e.g., US beef waste) could achieve significant benefits. Sparing wasted land and returning it to its potential natural vegetation could sequester 26 Gt COeq long-term (17-35 Gt COeq). Finally, while the 50% ACFW reduction lines up with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3b for the avoidable portion of food waste, a total of 276 Mt of unavoidable consumer food waste is also generated, which cannot be readily reduced. Achieving a 50% reduction in total food waste would require a 93% reduction in ACFW. Tracking the spatial impacts of ACFW can elucidate the concrete benefits of policies aiming at SDG 12.3b.
避免的消费者食物浪费（ACFW）是一个全球性的环境问题，浪费了关键资源并导致排放，尤其是在高粮食生产国。我们追溯 ACFW 的起源以评估排放、水和土地利用。我们表明，ACFW 的影响主要由牛肉、奶制品、大米和小麦等商品主导。超过 80%的影响是国内的，但受环境压力影响的少数几个主要粮食生产国所涉及的贸易隐含影响。减少 50%的 ACFW 可以在排放方面节省多达 1.98 亿吨 CO2eq，30 亿吨蓝水和 9900 万公顷土地。针对有影响力的国家的关键商品（例如美国牛肉浪费）可能会带来显著的效益。节约浪费的土地并将其恢复到潜在的自然植被状态，可以长期封存 26 亿吨 COeq（17-35 亿吨 COeq）。最后，虽然 50%的 ACFW 减少与可持续发展目标 12.3b 的避免部分食物浪费相一致，但也产生了 2.76 亿吨无法轻易减少的不可避免的消费者食物浪费。要实现食物浪费总量减少 50%，则需要将 ACFW 减少 93%。跟踪 ACFW 的空间影响可以阐明旨在实现可持续发展目标 12.3b 的政策的具体效益。
