On December 14, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly declared March 30 as International Zero Waste Day, an initiative led by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and UN-Habitat. This initiative aims to address the global waste crisis, recognizing that households, businesses, and public service providers generate between 2.1 and 2.3 billion tons of municipal solid waste annually, while 2.7 billion…
By Sahar Azarkamand, researcher of the ARECO Fellowship at the UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle of ESCI-UPF. The European Union generated approximately 83.4 million tons of packaging waste in 2021. According to forecasts, if no measures are taken, packaging waste could increase by another 19% by 2030 (European Council, 2024). In recent years, the amount of packaging has grown more…
IFCO, Euro Pool, and Logifruit assess the sustainability of their activities and their impact both financially and on people and the environment. Double Materiality has become a central issue for companies. The concept of Double Materiality was formally introduced by the European Commission in its 2019 Climate-Related Non-Financial Reporting Guidelines. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) also incorporates the…
Logistics plays a critical role in the success of any supply chain, including food supply chains. Climate change has already significantly impacted both human and natural systems. Limiting global warming to less than 2°C by 2050 requires a substantial reduction in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Karlsson et al., 2020). Logistics activities are recognized as major contributors to GHG emissions,…
In 1972, the United Nations designated June 5 as World Environment Day to highlight that the protection and health of the environment are key issues affecting the well-being of people and global economic development. Ensuring enough food for the world’s growing population, while reducing impacts on the environment, is one of the major challenges of the 21st century (UN, 2015).…
COP 28 urged governments to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power. The conference closed with an agreement that signals the “beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era by laying the groundwork for a rapid, just and equitable transition, backed by deep emission reductions and increased financing (UNFCCC, 2023a).…
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development seeks to halve per capita food waste at retail and consumer levels, as well as to reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses (SDG target 12.3) (UN, 2015). Achieving this target would have significant implications in the fight against climate change. According to FAO, food loss and waste account for…
In 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was launched after the agreement of the 193 member states of the United Nations. It is a 15-year plan of action that aims to end poverty, protect the planet and improve the lives of all the population. It has 17 objectives, the so-called Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which are defined in a…
While the previous news have focused on the concept of circularity, circular strategies and indicators to measure it; this article focuses on what do we mean by material cycle. One of the key objectives of circularity is to “circulate products and materials (at their higher value)”. But to circulate materials or products, we first need to understand what a material…
