Experts Highlight Food Waste as Major Driver of Climate Change
Speaking at the Zero Waste Forum 2026, Ana Catalina Suarez Pena, senior director of strategy and innovation at the Global FoodBanking Network, discussed the environmental and social consequences of food loss and waste, as well as the role of food banks in addressing both issues.
She explained that organic waste accounts for a substantial share of methane emissions worldwide, with food waste making up the majority of that category.
"At the same time, 2.5 billion people are facing food insecurity across the globe. There is a paradox — on one hand we are losing and wasting food, on the other, people are facing hunger and food insecurity. What food banks do is interconnect those two conversations," she said.
Suarez noted that food security, agriculture, land use, and food systems have become increasingly prominent topics in international climate discussions and have featured on every COP agenda since COP28.
Addressing the connection between food systems and climate policy, she stressed that reliable access to food is closely linked to environmental conditions and is increasingly vulnerable to climate-related disruptions.
"People sometimes ask why we are speaking about food systems when we are speaking about climate. We are speaking about food systems because food stability is always at risk.
"When we face a climate-related disaster — floods, extreme rainfall, wildfires — it becomes more and more relevant how food stability is affected. Harvesting changes, the cost of fertilizers rise. Then we need to talk about how we are producing food and how people are going to be fed under the circumstances that we are living," she said.
She emphasized that growing climate pressures are making it increasingly important to rethink food production, distribution, and waste management in order to strengthen food security while reducing environmental harm.
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