Around the world, millions of tons of perfectly usable items such as raw materials, fresh produce, food, and consumer packaged goods are discarded throughout all the steps of the value chain. Imperfections and early expiration dates are just some of the inevitable reasons why unsold products and materials end up incinerated or disposed of in landfills, ultimately becoming waste.
Waste not only creates landfill space shortages, but it also generates CO2e emissions. Food waste alone is responsible for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions; however, since “waste disposal” belongs to Scope 3 emissions of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which are activities from assets not owned or controlled by reporting organizations, there has been too little focus on finding the most appropriate and effective strategies to manage them.
Under the Paris Agreement, countries agreed to intensify the actions and investments necessary to keep the global temperature increase in this century well below 2°C. We are currently a long way from achieving this goal, with significant global warming likely to happen over the coming decades. Furthermore, the transition from a linear to a more circular economy, where products' lifetimes are extended, is taking much too long. Now is the time to act, which is where Pledge Zero comes into play…
With the support of global actors and allies, Pledge Zero in the US, Canada, LATAM, and the Caribbean becomes a reality and the first voluntary agreement in the Americas.
This pledge will allow actors with ESG principles embedded into their corporate DNA that are committed to sustainable production and responsible consumption to come together, aiming to reach zero waste of products and materials by 2040 and to foster a culture of waste prevention.
While acting collaboratively towards a world without waste, we generate environmental and social value within the framework of the SDGs of the United Nations, notably on the SDGs targeting sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production and climate action.
The Pledge Zero calls on companies and organizations to:
Pledge Zero promotes actions adopting the circular economy approach and contributing to mitigating the climate crisis. All efforts aiming to achieve these goals will be quantified in terms of CO2e emissions reductions by Core Zero, a PaaS (Platform as a Service) supported by different proprietary or third-party methodologies, which can be used for reporting purposes in line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 3 standard.
Progress meetings will be held on a regular basis among signatories of the Pledge. As a signatory, each organization is invited to communicate on its efforts and achievements through its own communication channels, promote the culture of waste prevention, responsible production and consumption, and raise awareness about the need to adopt a circular economy model to tackle climate change.
We recognize and welcome all collaborative worldwide
initiatives such as Think.Eat.Save launched by the UN Environment Program (UNEP) and UN Food and
Agriculture
Organization (FAO) aimed at retailers and consumers, FUSIONS (Food Use for Social Innovation by
Optimizing
Waste Prevention Strategies) launched by the European Union aimed at farmers and grocery stores, and
all
others where efforts are made to prevent waste and achieve zero waste.
We will collaborate with each
other
to seek synergies, identify best practices, and help quantify the signatories’ efforts and
positive
impact.
