Reducing food waste is a key challenge in fighting the climate change crisis. Sterling Crew of OLIO looks at new, smart food sharing technologies that are helping to ensure more of our edible food waste goes into our bellies, not our bins.

When food is lost or wasted, it impacts the environment, the economy and availability of resources at a time when many people cannot access enough food to eat. Reducing food waste is a key challenge in fighting anthropogenic climate change. According to the United Nations, the world's population is expected to grow from 7.7bn in 2019 to 9.7bn by 20501. With an extra 2bn people joining the planet, we will need to increase food production. This population growth is also predicted to swell our food waste, which is estimated to account for 8-10% of all greenhouse gas emissions2, because decomposing food in landfills emits methane gas that contributes to global warming. According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), globally about a third of all food produced is wasted, which amounts to 1.3bn tonnes per year3. At the same time, we are wasting the resources spent on growing and distributing the uneaten food.

Apart from the potential to eliminate hunger around the world, such waste makes a devastating contribution to the planet's climate crisis. We can all make a difference by adopting more sustainable eating habits. There is also the ethical consideration and the morality of nearly 1bn people going to bed hungry. A quarter of them could be fed on the food waste generated by the UK, USA and Europe. Hunger is not just a problem that happens elsewhere on the planet. Last year over a million people accessed food banks in the UK and the number is rising.

减少食物浪费是应对气候变化危机的关键挑战。OLIO 的 Sterling Crew 着眼于新的智能食物共享技术，这些技术有助于确保更多可食用的食物垃圾进入我们的肚子，而不是我们的垃圾箱。

当许多人无法获得足够的食物时，当食物丢失或浪费时，它会影响环境、经济和资源的可用性。减少食物浪费是应对人为气候变化的关键挑战。根据联合国的数据，世界人口预计将从 2019 年的 77 亿增长到 2050 年的 97 亿1。随着地球上新增 20 亿人口，我们将需要增加粮食生产。预计这种人口增长还会增加我们的食物浪费，估计占所有温室气体排放量的 8-10% 2，因为在垃圾填埋场分解食物会排放出导致全球变暖的甲烷气体。据联合国粮食及农业组织 (FAO) 称，全球生产的所有食物中约有三分之一被浪费，每年浪费 13 亿吨3。与此同时，我们正在浪费用于种植和分发未食用食物的资源。

除了在世界范围内消除饥饿的潜力外，此类废物还对地球的气候危机造成了毁灭性的影响。通过采用更可持续的饮食习惯，我们都可以有所作为。还有近10亿人饿着肚子睡觉的伦理考虑和道德。其中四分之一可以用英国、美国和欧洲产生的食物垃圾作为食物。饥饿不仅仅是地球上其他地方发生的问题。去年，英国有超过 100 万人访问了食品银行，而且这个数字还在上升。