Food loss and waste globally accounts for an estimated 8 percent of annual GHG emissions, consumes a quarter of all water used by agriculture, and wastes enough agricultural land to cover the entirety of China. This article explores the economic and environmental case for tackling food loss and waste.
It is now well recognized that encouraging private sources of finance for sustainable development, risk management, and resilience will be essential in achieving the SDGs. However, efforts by mainstream sources of market finance, even if ‘innovative’ in design, may not always reach the ‘poorest of the poor’ because the latter are too remote or dispersed, their incomes are insufficient to pay for goods or services, or because the investments required are otherwise difficult to commercialize. Last mile, innovative financial mechanisms are therefore needed that support investments that either extend or link mainstream resilience initiatives to include the most vulnerable; and/or develop bespoke solutions for the most vulnerable.