Executive Summary
Climate change threatens food security, yet food waste is responsible for 8% of global emissions. America wastes 72 billion pounds of food each year, while 40 million people in our country struggle with hunger. Reducing food waste can mitigate climate change and feed hungry people but change at scale requires dramatic acceleration of food rescue. Feeding America’s network of 200 foodbanks annually rescues 3.5 billion pounds of food that otherwise would be wasted. We will scale our rescue up to 5 billion pounds by 2025 by building technology-enabled regional food-sourcing hubs to source nutritious foods with high carbon intensity, especially protein and dairy. To distribute food more equitably, we will use predictive data to identify the most vulnerable populations facing hunger and reach them through innovative last-mile delivery. This project will put us on a long-term path to eliminate hunger and mitigate climate change through avoided carbon emissions.
Charity, fund, non-governmental organization, religious institution, school, or other entity
Organizations may provide budget and employee data based on this proposal or the organization as a whole. For more information on this proposal or organization, please email us.
COVID-19 Response
Feeding America has seen a drastic increase in demand as well as costs due to the pandemic. Food banks are now distributing food directly and working to ensure safety, are focusing on food for schools and their need for new distribution sites, and working with a decrease in volunteers and retail donations. Due to this, a change to the proposal would include utilizing Enterprise Resource Planning software to help manage forward planning.
Racial and Ethnic Injustice Response
Climate change and food insecurity both disproportionately affect Black, Native American, Hispanic, and other vulnerable populations. COVID and the associated economic recession are causing greater increases in food insecurity for these vulnerable groups. Our proposal seeks to source even more food to meet this increased need, and we will prioritize reaching these populations through equitable food distribution interventions.
