50th Anniversary of Earth Day Highlights Continued Need for Food Security
Category : Press Release
Washington, DC – APRIL 22, 2020 – On the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, the Global Food Cold Chain Council restates their intent to continually expand their initiatives to achieve United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. With an evolving data gathering initiative and a research fund dedicated to similar activities, GFCCC aims to widen their portfolio to secure a healthy environment and secure food supply.
“Earth Day presents a visible opportunity to evaluate our past activity and plot a path forward for the environment. We are pleased to spearhead a data-driven project that will directly address food loss and waste and the greenhouse gas emissions that accompany it,” Co-Chair Rajan Rajendran, with Emerson Climate Technologies, said that, “On this day we are reminded that this is an urgent issue that has attracted global action and attention.”
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that CO2 emissions from food loss and waste exceed 4 billion tons of CO2 equivalent. If food loss and waste emissions were ranked among absolute country emissions, it would the third largest source of CO2 emissions worldwide.
“Through our international reach, we will take tangible steps to greatly reduce this number.” Rajendran added. “Our data-gathering project is organized in conjunction with the UN Environment OzonAction program and is making great progress to aggregate a baseline establishment of the cold chain in developing countries.”
The Global Food Cold Chain Council: GFCCC was launched in 2014 and has been a leader in the dialogue of means to address food loss and waste. It coincides with international efforts underway in the Montreal Protocol, in the Paris Climate Agreement, and as part of the efforts to implement the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to address food loss and waste and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions.
