This is not a normal conference. This is a call for action.

This is a brief summary of some of the discussions and conclusions that arose from the Nordic Food Waste Summit 2023. For two days, ministers, entrepreneurs, activists, and royalty stood side by side in the common battle against wasted resources − through political panel discussions, visionary keynotes, coffee-fueled networking, and concrete business cases.

On the first day of Nordic Food Waste Summit, the Nordic Region’s most knowledgeable experts from government authorities and agencies came together to explore the challenges that the Nordic countries face in different ways when it comes to food waste – and, of course, the solutions that could make us accelerate the pace moving forward.

Day two gathered 200 high-level participants from both governments, royal courts, the food industry and civil society. Tens of thousands of people from across the world followed the discussions online.

The summit can provide a taste of what we might expect from decision-makers moving forward with the vision of halving food waste by 2030, in accordance with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

We are all aware of the disturbing facts: In the Nordic countries, approximately 3,6 million tonnes of food are wasted each year. Between 30-40% of all food produced globally is wasted in some part of the value chain. Around 10% of our global greenhouse gas emissions can be linked to food waste.

Project Drawdown even lists “Reduced Food Waste” as the number one most efficient solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions (and they list 93 solutions…).

During her introductory speech, HRH Princess Marie of Denmark also stressed the fact that the topic travels beyond climate change.

In other words, the topic should be all over the news.

On a positive note, food waste has climbed significantly higher on the political agenda. This is very apparent after two intense days of debate, inspiration and collaboration in Stockholm.