Global food waste produces five times more emissions than aviation

More than one billion tonnes of food is wasted every year around the world, creating five times more greenhouse gas emissions than the aviation sector.

The Scale of Waste

A recent report by the United Nations Environment Programme called the Food Waste Index Report 2024 shows that a fifth of all food available to consumers gets thrown away. Households create sixty per cent of this waste. At the same time, over six hundred million people around the world experienced hunger in 2025, according to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization. A fourth of the global population faced moderate or severe food insecurity.

Methane and Landfills

Discarded food ends up in landfills where it lacks oxygen and produces methane gas. This gas accounts for ten per cent of all global greenhouse gases and has caused a third of global warming so far. Methane traps eighty-six times more heat than carbon dioxide over a twenty-year period. Without action, food waste will double by 2050.

Solutions

Composting organic matter in oxygen-rich settings turns it into carbon dioxide, which warms the planet much less than methane in the short term. Another method uses black soldier flies in their larval stage to eat and recycle food waste. These flies can then become high-protein animal food, and this approach is already used in Uganda and Malawi. The UNEP Food Waste Breakthrough programme aims to cut food waste in half by 2030 and reduce methane emissions by seven per cent.

Context

Cutting methane emissions from food waste acts as a quick way to slow global warming because methane breaks down much faster in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. UNEP officials note that tackling food waste is one of the most immediate and cost-effective climate solutions available today.