Food waste prevention: an untapped opportunity for climate action
Food waste prevention can play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building a more sustainable, resilient food system. Yet, despite growing policy attention to food loss and waste (FLW), its potential as a climate mitigation measure remains largely underused and unevenly addressed across European and national policy frameworks. These challenges were explored in a study presented by Berta Vidal from Espigoladors at the RETASTE 2026 conference in Crete, Greece.
The study, entitled “Hidden Climate Potential: Food Waste Prevention in EU and National Policy Frameworks”, examines how food waste prevention is integrated into climate and sustainability policies, exploring opportunities to strengthen its role beyond traditional waste management approaches.
The research adopts a multi-level governance perspective, analysing policy frameworks at both European and national levels. It combines a systematic mapping of policy documents with a structured qualitative assessment of their scope, ambition, implementation mechanisms, monitoring provisions and alignment with other policy areas. The analysis covers countries participating in WASTEWISE — Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Finland, Romania and Italy — alongside France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark and the United States. It also examines policy areas including climate change mitigation, energy efficiency, agriculture, waste management, green public procurement and social rights.
The findings highlight a persistent gap between the recognition of food loss and waste as a sustainability challenge and its integration into broader climate and energy strategies. More coordinated policies could help unlock significant co-benefits, including greenhouse gas emissions reduction, improved resource efficiency and greater food system resilience.
By providing evidence and methodological insights into policy alignment, this research supports efforts to strengthen food loss and waste prevention across climate and sustainability agendas. Integrating food waste prevention more systematically into EU and national policies could be an important step towards achieving climate objectives and building a more sustainable food system.
