Methodology for Avoiding Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Keeping Food in the Human Supply Chain

Food that is lost or wasted generates about 8% of annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, meaning that if food waste was a country, it would be the largest emitter of GHGs behind the U.S. and China. Food loss and waste (FLW) has many negative economic and social impacts, considering that millions across the globe suffer from hunger.

This first of its kind methodology will enable the quantification of GHG emission reductions from activities that avoid FLW. Project activities may prevent this loss or waste of food products at different stages of the food chain, e.g., at the farm level, food processing facility, food service/hospitality, or residential. The methodology provides procedures to quantify the net GHG emission reductions from keeping food (edible and/or inedible parts) in the human consumption chain. The baseline scenario assumes the continuation of pre-project food diversion practices (i.e., sending food to a landfill or other FLW destination). This current methodology version only covers downstream emission reductions from diverting food away from an FLW destination.

This methodology uses an alternative Methodology Approval Process (MAP) for its development. Verra sought out consultants to lead the development of the proposed methodology, otherwise, the methodology will go through each of the steps documented in the standard MAP.

The methodology was open for public comment from 8 March through 24 April 2022. Please reach out to Liz Guinessey, Senior Program Officer, Innovation (eguinessey@verra.org) should you have any questions.