Major players from the worlds of food retail and hospitality, along with social media influencers and chefs, will join forces today to pledge ground-breaking action to drive down food waste, a driver of climate change.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove and Minister Thérèse Coffey were among the first to sign up to the pledge – which includes a goal to halve food waste by 2030 – and will today be joined by players in the world of food including Nestlé, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Waitrose to help halve food waste by 2030.

This comes as Food Surplus and Waste Champion Ben Elliot will today host a major symposium ‘Step up to the Plate’ at London’s prestigious Victoria and Albert Museum.

Attendees are expected to sign up to a number of commitments on measuring and reducing their own food waste and inspiring others to follow their lead.

Speaking at the event Environment Secretary Michael Gove is expected to say:

I want to thank our Food Surplus and Waste Champion Ben Elliot for bringing together the biggest players from the world of food today to ‘Step up to the Plate’ and slash food waste.

Every year, millions of tonnes of good, nutritious food is thrown away.

This is an environmental, economic and moral scandal, and I am determined to tackle it.

I urge businesses to join me in signing the pledge to deliver real change to stop good food going to waste.

Food Surplus and Waste Champion Ben Elliot is expected to say:

Climate change is no longer a buzzword – we must all stand up and be counted. We squander 10 million tonnes of food and drink every year.

Businesses throw away food worth an estimated £5 billion and £15 billion is wasted from our homes (on average around £500 a year), the emissions this creates is the equivalent of every third car on the road. We simply must put an end to this.

The pledge asks attendees to reduce food waste by:

• setting an ambitious target to halve food waste by 2030 in line with UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3.adopting the WRAP and IGD Food Waste Reduction Roadmap to have half of all 250 of the UK’s largest food businesses measuring, reporting and acting on food waste by 2019.
• embracing a Food Conversation week of action in November 2019 to highlight the changes we can all make.
• using their voice and profile to empower and encourage citizens, including the younger generation.
• changing their habits as an individual to be a Food Value Champion at work and at home, buying only what they need and eating what they buy.

The food waste symposium runs alongside the V&A’s FOOD: Bigger than the Plate exhibition, which will explore similar themes when it opens to the public on Saturday 18 May.

Currently around 55,000 tonnes of surplus food is redistributed from retailers and food manufacturers every year. It is estimated a further 100,000 tonnes of food – equating to 250 million meals a year – is edible and readily available but goes uneaten. Instead, this food is currently sent away for generating energy from waste, anaerobic digestion to be used for fuel and fertiliser, or animal feed. Wasting food squanders the energy and resources used in producing, transporting and packaging, and when sent to landfill it rots and produces methane, contributing to our greenhouse gas emissions.

Earlier this year the government launched a £15 million scheme to tackle food waste, building on its landmark Resources and Waste Strategy which sets out how the government will introduce annual reporting of food surplus and waste by food businesses. The first round of successful applicants receiving £4 million of funding has just been announced. Should progress be insufficient, we will consult on legal powers to introduce mandatory targets for food waste prevention.

The Resources and Waste Strategy also sets out how the government will ensure weekly collections of food waste, which is often smelly and unpleasant, for every household – restoring weekly collections in some local authorities, subject to consultation.

The government is committed to supporting the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 2 to end hunger by 2030.

Notes to editors:

• The food waste symposium runs alongside the V&A’s FOOD: Bigger than the Plate exhibition, and bring together big players from the worlds of food retail, hospitality, chefs and social media influencers to promote awareness of food waste and help drive it down from all sources.
• In 2017, 205,000 tonnes of surplus food in the retail and food manufacturing sectors was wasted. Some of the surplus is difficult to minimise, costly in that it would need to be reworked or repackaged, and some surplus would not be edible. It is estimated by WRAP that 100,000 tonnes of this is both accessible and edible with the remaining being more difficult to redistribute.
• Food waste in the UK totals 10.2 million tonnes per year, of which 1.8 million tonnes comes from food manufacture, 1 million from the hospitality sector, and 260,000 from retail, with the remainder from households.
• Anyone can sign up to the ‘Step up to the Plate pledge’ through sending a signed copy of the pledge to events@stopfoodwaste.net.

New ‘Lucy’s Law’ legislation laid in Parliament to end puppy and kitten farming.

Ben Elliot calls for an end to the ‘moral and economic scandal’ of food waste.

It’s a pleasure to be here to represent the UK as a major donor to the Pacific NDC hub and to support our partners GIZ.

Climate change is the backbone of the UK-Pacific relationship and we stand side by side as global leaders on climate change. There are few subjects which unite people across generations and borders to the same degree.

The UK is leading by example domestically, our climate change act, which was the first of its kind, has just celebrated its 10 year anniversary and has been used as a model here in the Pacific.

Internationally, the UK continues to make the case for increased ambition and helping partners to deliver this. We are proud to be a member of the High Ambition Coalition and the Carbon Neutrality Coalition.

Here in the Pacific the UK contributes almost $88 million USD to the International Climate Finance (ICF), covering a range of areas including renewable energy and wastewater management, with a particular focus on strengthening climate and risk resilience.

The UK is also a significant contributor to key climate change multilateral funds, which provide support to the Pacific region, including £720 million to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), £250 million to the Global Environment Facility, and £40 million to the Climate Investment Funds.

To support the Fijian Presidency of COP23, the UK provided FJD$4.4m and, most recently in our current role of Chair-in-office of the Commonwealth we have provided £1.2 million for the establishment of this Pacific NDC hub. The CHOGM communique recognised that concerted action is required to address the unique challenges and vulnerabilities of small and vulnerable states to ensure their full participation in and contribution to a more prosperous future.

Nationally Determined contributions are at the heart of the Paris Agreement. Each NDC reflects the country’s ambition for reducing emissions, and whilst the contribution of PIC’s to global greenhouse gas emissions may be small, a transition to a low carbon and green economy is critical for overall sustainable development.

I am proud to say that in the UK, since 1990, we have reduced our emissions by 42% whilst still growing our economy by 72%.

Ahead of the Paris Agreement, PICs were congratulated for swiftly declaring ambitious NDC’s, but now 5 years on, at COP26, there is the opportunity to enhance these NDC’s and most importantly, to further incorporate the resilience and adaptation priorities of the Pacific. Through the Talanoa Dialogue, countries are being asked to respond to three main questions, where are we now? Where do we want to get to? And ‘How can we achieve it? The NDC hub will provide technical assistance to support PICs when answering these questions, and in doing so there is the potential to deliver significant social and economic benefits, and enhance resilience more broadly across the Region.

COP26 in 2020 will be a pivotal moment to take stock of global ambition and prepare the ground for further action. I am delighted to say that the UK has formally expressed interest in hosting COP26. The UK Government is determined to sustain our historic leadership on climate change, and believe we would be a committed, ambitious and effective host.

The UK will also lead the resilience strand of the UNSG’s Climate summit later this year and we are keen to work in partnership with PICs to bring commitments to the summit that will drive truly transformational change and accelerate the transition to a climate resilient planet.

In its leadership role the UK Government has the opportunity to use its diplomatic weight to amplify the voice of the Pacific on the global climate change platform.

I would like to encourage all country representatives here this evening to draw on the technical expertise of the NDC hub. The deadline for resubmission is around the corner and this regional hub offers not only the potential to build resilience regionally, but also present renewed opportunity for the Pacific to lead from the front at COP. Thank you, vinaka vakalevu and Fa’eksea!

New, or majorly refurbished, large buildings used by the public must have Changing Places toilets, under government proposals being consulted on from today.