This report is a case study on the Greater Manchester city-region food system. It looks at how the city’s commitments on net zero and access to sustainable, healthy food can be met, drawing on interviews with 20 participants from across the food supply chain. The report discusses food waste auditing, procurement standards, procurement processes that enable small businesses to take part in contracts that otherwise have complex paperwork, collaboration between local caterers and suppliers, and investment in kitchen capacity in public institutions, urban agriculture such as allotments, and vertical farms to provide fresh food all year round.

This policy brief from UK food waste NGO Feedback sets out recommendations for how to make the food surplus sector in the UK sustainable and inclusive. It stresses that the top priority should be to reduce food surplus in the first place, followed by effective redistribution of unpreventable food waste.

This report from the UK-based Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions quantifies greenhouse gas emissions arising from the UK’s food sector. It finds that when emissions are accounted for using a consumption basis (which accounts for emissions associated with imported and exported food), emissions are 52% higher than when a territorial basis is used (only including emissions generated within the country).

This report from UK charity WRAP, co-authored by TABLE member Hamish Forbes, provides a comprehensive mapping of the carbon footprint of UK food and drink consumption, building up a detailed sector-by-sector analysis of where emissions arise and how that has changed from 2015 to 2019. Showing the importance of the food sector in achieving net zero targets, it finds that a 50% reduction in the UK’s food-related emissions by 2030 (compared to 2015) is possible, but only if urgent action is taken.

This report from the UN Environment Programme synthesises evidence on the degradation of the world’s ecosystems, sets out the economic, environmental and social benefits of ecosystem restoration, and calls for individuals and organisations to contribute - including by reducing food waste, using farmland more efficiently, and encouraging a shift towards more plant-based diets.

This paper co-authored by Table member Toni Meier quantifies the levels, environmental impacts and reduction potential of food waste produced in the business, healthcare and hospitality food service subsectors in Germany. It finds that significant waste reductions could be achieved within one year, with the greatest potential reduction of 17% being found in the healthcare subsector.

Table member Tom Quested has co-authored this report for the United Nations Environment Programme. The report presents up-to-date and comprehensive estimates of food waste around the world, based on the collation of a large number of national estimates of food waste. It also presents a methodology for countries to measure food waste consistently. The report focuses on waste from households, food service and retail.

This synthesis report by the United Nations Environment Programme examines how climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution can be tackled as part of the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals, including by transforming food, water and energy systems.