Food Waste Estimated To Be Over A Mindboggling $One Trillion Annually

Without accelerated action, 1.9 billion people can be expected to remain in cooking poverty in 2030, at a staggering annual cost of $2.4 trillion due to the impacts on health, gender and global climate

A recent UN report revealed that 2.33 billion people faced food insecurity in 2023. Zero-waste kitchens, based on a circular economy model, offer a solution, especially in commercial settings where significant food waste occurs.

The economic costs of food waste are substantial, according to the report. The value of wasted food annually is estimated at over $1 trillion, representing a significant drain on economies. By reducing food waste, we can unlock economic opportunities, enhance resource efficiency and contribute to economic resilience and prosperity.

Enabling the world’s poor to cook with modern fuels and technologies and lifting them from cooking poverty is an urgent development issue, with enormous potential benefits for human health, climate, the environment, and advancement toward gender equity.

However, the world is not on track to achieve clean cooking for all by 2030—the ambition of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator. The stark reality is that 2.3 billion people rely on polluting traditional fuels and technologies to cook their meals.

Globally, the number of people gaining access to clean cooking has increased significantly in recent decades. However, population growth has outpaced these improvements, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa where the number of people without access reached 0.9 billion in 2021.

Without accelerated action, 1.9 billion people can be expected to remain in cooking poverty in 2030, at a staggering annual cost of $2.4 trillion due to the impacts on health, gender and global climate.

Cooking sector emissions account for about three per cent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and 56 per cent of emissions from buildings. Promoting access to clean cooking can also advance gender equity for women and children, who are often primarily responsible for cooking and fuel collection tasks, through time savings, improvements in health and well-being, and empowerment and livelihood opportunities.

To achieve the 2030 target, the share of the population mainly cooking with electricity, LPG/NG, biogas, ethanol, solar or other clean fuels or improved cooking solutions needs to increase from 48 per cent (2020 base year) to 65 per cent (2030), with an intermediate benchmark of 52 per cent reached by 2025. Additionally, the share of the population mainly using improved cooking solutions like low-emission biomass stoves reaching tier 3 or better needs to increase from 15 per cent (2020 base year) to 35 per cent (2030), with 25 per cent reached by 2025.

Between 2030 and 2040, the analysis assumes a transition from improved cooking solutions to cleaner fuels such as LPG, electricity, biogas, and ethanol, at an average cost of $80–225 per household, depending on the type of fuel-and-technology combination and locality.

Covering aspects like annual health, gender, and climate co-benefits to clean cooking, and eliminating cooking poverty by 2030 totals $192.3 billion, 25 times over the estimated public-sector investment. By 2040, the health co-benefit from avoided deaths and avoided disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) resulting from reduced exposure to household air pollution (HAP) is estimated at $178.7 billion per year.

The gender co-benefit, associated with time savings in performing cooking-related tasks (collecting fuels and cooking), is estimated at $20 billion per year. Finally, the climate co-benefit from switching targeted populations to cleaner cooking solutions is estimated at $33.6 billion per year due to reductions in GHG and black carbon (BC) emissions

The global shift toward sustainability has become a defining feature of many industries, with commercial kitchens increasingly at the forefront of this movement. As businesses and consumers grow more conscious of environmental impact, zero waste practices are being embraced not just for their eco-friendly benefits, but also for the operational efficiency they bring. In kitchens—where high volumes of food and resources are constantly flowing—this focus on sustainability is especially crucial.

Food waste is the most obvious form of waste in restaurants and kitchens, but it can manifest in multiple ways. Over-preparation, spoilage, and plate waste all contribute significantly to this problem. Over-preparation occurs when kitchens prepare too much food in anticipation of demand. Spoilage happens due to improper storage techniques or inventory management, where ingredients expire before they can be used. Finally, plate waste, which comes from portions that are too large or meals that are underappreciated by customers, adds to the problem.

According to studies, up to 10 per cent of food purchased by restaurants never makes it onto a plate, and 30-40 per cent of the food that is served is left uneaten by customers. These figures show how critical it is for commercial kitchens to address food waste at multiple points in the operation—from ordering to preparation to portion control.