By John Mandyck, Chief Sustainability Officer, United Technologies Corporation

Did you know that less than 10 percent of the world’s perishable foods are refrigerated today? This means refrigeration technology can play a big role to extend the world’s food supply to more people. When you stop and think that we grow and produce enough food to feed 10 billion people on our planet of 7 billion, yet nearly a billion people go hungry every day, you can see the enormous potential of wasting less food to feed more people. The 40 percent of food that’s lost or wasted every day also has a big environmental consequence.

As the chief sustainability officer of United Technologies, I think about this issue every day. The United Technologies Climate, Controls, and Security business develops cold chain technologies to transport food safely from farm to the table. We are constantly thinking about the sustainability of our products and services but also about the impacts of food waste in general.

Food Waste Affects Climate Change
 

I fully believe that when food waste is managed as a climate issue, it will unlock new policies and resources to do something about it. Lowering food waste is the only climate policy that simultaneously reduces greenhouse gasses, feeds more people, saves water and promotes national security. No other policy can do the same.

And food waste is definitely a climate and environmental issue. Here’s why:

• If measured as a country, food waste is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, behind China and the United States.
• Eliminating the carbon dioxide emissions from food waste is the same as taking every car off of every road, every year.
• The amount of water used to produce food we throw away would easily fill the entire water need for the continent of Africa.

Two-thirds of all food waste happens at the production and distribution level, mostly in emerging economies where food often never makes it from harvest to a table, or frequently spoils in poor distribution systems or open-air markets. According to a report from the Global Food Cold Chain Council, for every one ton of carbon created by growing the cold chain in emerging economies, 10 tons of carbon are saved by avoiding the food that’s lost or wasted—that’s how big this opportunity can be.

Private Sector Role
 

The private sector can play a meaningful role in three ways:

1. Large corporations have the convening power to connect stakeholders on the global scale and consequence of food waste while affirming UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, which calls for a halving of food waste by 2030.
2. Technology providers can innovate for new, lower cost solutions in refrigeration and other areas that reduce food waste and loss for faster adoption in emerging economies.
3. The private sector can help governmental organizations realize that food loss and waste is indeed the sleeping climate giant hidden before our eyes. With developing countries building plans to meet COP21 climate commitments, now is the time to understand that reducing food waste is an effective means of lowering greenhouse gasses with so many co-benefits. International financing programs to reduce climate impacts should be made available to smallholder farmers to adopt new technologies that extend food supplies to feed more people.
    

Food Foolish
 

The amount of food we waste around the world is certainly foolish given the millions of people who lack access to food and are trapped in poverty. It is actually a resource that can sustainably feed 4 billion more people—that’s all who suffer from hunger today and enough to feed our growing population through 2050.

I believe that the “Age of Food Efficiency” has begun, with investment and education possibilities that can make the idea of eliminating food waste a reality in our lifetime. If you want to explore the hidden connection between food waste, hunger and climate change, check out my book Food Foolish—all proceeds go to food charities.

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