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Tackling Food Waste: Canada’s Untapped Climate Opportunity
June 5, 2026
June 5, 2026
In 2015, Canada committed to the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including a target to halve per capita global food waste by 2030.
Since then, the federal government has taken important steps to address food loss and waste through initiatives such as the 2019 Food Policy for Canada, the Food Waste Reduction Challenge and the Surplus Food Rescue Program.
While these efforts have helped build momentum, they have not been enough to put Canada on track to meet its 2030 target.
That's why Second Harvest submitted recommendations to the government's 2026–2029 Draft Federal Sustainable Development Strategy. Here’s what we’re asking for and why.
Despite its significant environmental, economic and social impacts, food waste is not addressed as a standalone issue in the draft strategy.
Why This Matters
Food waste continues to have major consequences across the country.
Avoidable food waste generates 25.7 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually, roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of 5.6 million passenger vehicles. It also carries a water footprint of 13,314 million cubic metres, the equivalent of water flowing over Niagara Falls for 53.6 days.
Food waste also undermines food security efforts, which depend on access, affordability and the efficient management of food across the supply chain.
What We're Asking
Second Harvest's submission outlines specific changes to three key goals in the draft strategy.
Our recommendation: Add language recognizing that climate change drives food loss and waste in agriculture.
Why it matters: Today, 18% of Canada's avoidable food waste occurs at the production stage, largely because of weather and climate-related factors.
Climate change is increasing both pre- and post-harvest losses. Extreme weather, water shortages and soil erosion make it harder to grow, harvest and transport food, resulting in more waste, especially for temperature-sensitive fruits such as blueberries and peaches.
Our recommendation: Explicitly include food system waste in emissions reduction plans.
Why it matters: The food system is responsible for more than one-third of human-made greenhouse gas emissions. In Canada, food waste accounts for 77.7 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions, with avoidable food waste responsible for 25.7 million tonnes.
Reducing food waste is one of the fastest, most cost-effective and highest-impact climate solutions available. In some assessments, it ranks ahead of electric vehicles, renewable energy expansion and recycling programs.
Our recommendation: Name food waste separately in waste reduction targets and commit to working with the provinces, territories and other stakeholders on standardized measurement.
Why it matters: Food waste represents about one-quarter of the organic waste sent to landfill in Canada, making it a major contributor to methane emissions, far more potent than CO₂.
Reducing and repurposing food waste is central to building a circular economy and more resilient food systems. It also helps reduce disposal costs, create new markets for recovered materials and ensure more people can access the food they need.
But there is a major challenge: we cannot manage what we do not measure. While Canada currently has no consistent national approach to measuring food loss and waste CSA Group’s recent release of the “CSA K100, Food loss and waste – Terminology and measurement” standard provides a Made-in-Canada framework.
CSA K100 is the first National Standard of Canada that provides organizations and policymakers with a shared framework to define, measure and report food loss and waste across the food value chain. By establishing common language and definitions, identifying where food loss occurs and helping organizations measure food loss and waste at key points, the standard creates a consistent approach to tracking progress.
We have CSA K100 to measure food loss and waste. We have food rescue infrastructure ready to redirect surplus food. We have strong evidence that reducing food waste is one of the most cost-effective climate solutions in the emissions-reduction toolbox.
What we need now is a Federal Sustainable Development Strategy that treats food waste as the priority it should be.
Let's make sure Canada meets its 2030 commitment.
The complete submission to the 2026–2029 Draft Federal Sustainable Development Strategy includes detailed proposed language changes to the draft document. Read it here.
