On “Zero Waste Day” Monday, global tourism leaders pledged to tackle a major global sustainability challenge: food waste. Launched today by the United Nations Environment Program and UN Tourism, the groundbreaking “Recipe of Change” initiative will see major tourism stakeholders measure food waste in their operations and implement operational and behavioural solutions to halve food waste by 2030.
Among the initial pledges are Accor, Constance Hotels & Resorts, Club Med, easyJet holidays, Grupo Posadas, Hilton, Iberostar Hotels & Resorts, Minor Hotels, Meliá Hotels International, Radisson Hotel Group, Six Senses, TUI Group, Lightblue Consulting and Winnow.
Combined, these businesses serve over 600 million guests annually and generate more than US$56.5 billion in annual revenue, mobilizing the sector at scale to prevent food waste, influence consumer behaviour, and accelerate the transition to more sustainable food systems.
Remarking on the significance of the initiative, Shaikha Al Nuwais, Secretary-General of UN Tourism said: “2.3 billion people experience food insecurity every single day. With a third of the world´s population failing to receive this basic human right and food wastage contributing up to 10% of global greenhouse gases, we must take decisive action. Recipe of Change seeks to do just that – with the tourism sector directly supporting solutions that drive sustainable consumption.”
The need to drive direct ground-level impact was reiterated by Sheila Aggarwal-Khan, Director of the Industry and Economy Division at UNEP, who said: “Tourism businesses are in a unique position to redesign menus, encourage lasting behavioural change and deliver measurable reductions in food waste. We are calling on more businesses across the tourism sector to become active partners of Recipe of Change and help accelerate progress towards halving global food waste.”
The UN campaign builds on successes such as the “Green Ramadan” campaign led by Hilton in partnership with Winnow, which saw participating hotels reduce food waste by over 60% in early pilots (2023), with further reductions of 20-30% in subsequent editions, as the initiative scaled from three hotels to 64 hotels in 2026.
To further accelerate the sector’s transformation, UN Tourism and UNEP encourage businesses across the tourism sector to join the movement and help cut food waste in half.
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