$15M additional funding to tackle food waste around the world

Work tackling the huge environmental cost of food waste has been given a massive boost this year, as international climate action NGO WRAP receives catalytic funding from the Ballmer Group.

The $15M funding will support essential work by WRAP and our partners in tackling food loss and waste through existing Voluntary Agreements in Australia, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa and to create a new food waste voluntary agreement in Brazil. The funding covers ongoing work with money allocated to each nation to increase the systemic Target-Measure-Act approach to reduce food waste across supply chains and in the home, which globally are responsible for around 10% of all Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions.

David Rogers, International Director at WRAP said, “This funding is an absolute game-changer, and the largest philanthropic donation WRAP has received for our work around the world. It marks a transformational moment, bringing substantial, multi-year funding to scale up the impact of food waste voluntary agreements around the world. We know the model works, having proven it first in the UK before working with our excellent partners to support them in adapting it to local contexts and challenges. We are incredibly grateful to The Ballmer Group for the funding at this critical time, with just six years left to halve food waste by 2030.”

The Public-Private Partnership model, or Voluntary Agreement, utilises a Target-Measure-Act approach to coordinate and drive action by key partners along the global supply chains that produce our food. They can deliver significant and lasting reductions in food waste with the model proving particularly successful in the UK, where the Courtauld 2030 voluntary commitment has seen retailers and manufacturers cut their business food waste by nearly 30%.

WRAP has helped to establish and support six food pacts, building from the blueprint of the Courtauld 2030 model. The climate action NGO is working with the partners delivering the agreements in each nation as they adapt the approach to suit their unique situations. Together, this international network provides a co-ordinated group of actors aligned to a shared ambition, mirroring the approach WRAP instigated to tackle plastic pollution through a series of national Plastics Pacts.

The announcement of the grant follows the recent publication of the Philanthropic Roadmap (Reducing Food Loss and Waste – A Roadmap for Philanthropy) (pdf).

Involving 50 expert organisations and led by the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU), WRAP, ReFED and the World Resources Institute (WRI). With funding from the Bezos Earth Fund, the Betsy and Jesse Fink Family Foundation, the IKEA Foundation and the Robertson Foundation, the Philanthropic Roadmap gives a blueprint identifying $300,000,000 in ready-to-fund philanthropic investments that can deliver major improvements for the climate, economy, and society by cutting food waste. National coordination through voluntary agreements is viewed as a major route to driving change.

David Rogers, “We have the partnerships, the framework, and the expertise to make inroads into global food waste, but what’s been missing has been serious investment at the global level. That’s why support by The Ballmer Group, and the creation of a dedicated ‘Philanthropic Roadmap’, are such important developments. Both can help fix our failing food system and help tackle climate change, and both show that investment – whether philanthropic or governmental – are crucial to help repair our failing food system.”

WRAP’s work around the world

With offices in the UK, Australia and the USA, WRAP works globally with governments, businesses, and communities to deliver practical solutions to improve resource efficiency within the food system, plastics and in textiles. The organisation takes UK learning and successes and works with in-country partners to develop programmes that fully address the needs of the local area. It has programmes operating in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Americas. It recently brought representatives from Red de Bancos de Alimentos de México (BAMX) and the Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Development (IBCSD) to COP28 to outline the impact public-private partnerships are making in those countries.