Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Food systems

Saving food mitigates climate change

Nature Food volume 4, pages 211–212 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Life cycle assessment reveals that the emissions from the treatment and disposal of lost and wasted food account for around half of greenhouse gas emissions from food systems. Therefore, saving food is essential to reduce food systems’ environmental impacts.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Food waste is being treated using anaerobic digestion in Dharan, Nepal, to generate biogas for human mobility.

References

  1. Schmidt-Traub, G., Obersteiner, M. & Mosnier, A. Nature 569, 181–183 (2019).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Crippa, M. et al. Nat. Food 2, 198–209 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Rosenzweig, C. et al. Nat. Food 1, 94–97 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Hiç, C., Pradhan, P., Rybski, D. & Kropp, J. P. Environ. Sci. Technol. 50, 4269–4277 (2016).

    Article  ADS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Mbow, C. et al. in Climate Change and Land: An IPCC Special Report on Climate Change, Desertification, Land Degradation, Sustainable Land Management, Food Security, and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Terrestrial Ecosystems (eds Shukla, P. R. et al.) 437–550 (IPCC, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2019).

  6. Zhu, J. et al. Nat. Food https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00710-3 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Statistical Database (FAOSTAT) (FAO, 2022).

  8. Food Loss and Waste Database (FAO, 2022); https://go.nature.com/3k6484u

  9. Foong, A., Pradhan, P., Frör, O. & Kropp, J. P. Nat. Commun. 13, 3024 (2022).

    Article  ADS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Pradhan, P. Natl Sci. Rev. https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwad015 (2023).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Member of the Leibniz Association, Potsdam, Germany

    Prajal Pradhan

  2. Bauhaus Earth, Berlin, Germany

    Prajal Pradhan

Authors
  1. Prajal Pradhan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Prajal Pradhan.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pradhan, P. Saving food mitigates climate change. Nat Food 4, 211–212 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00720-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00720-1

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Anthropocene

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Anthropocene newsletter — what matters in anthropocene research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Anthropocene