Global environmental action NGO WRAP has been chosen to be part of the 2025 cohort of Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment to Action Makers. Director of International Development David Rogers will brief delegates on WRAP's plans to reduce food waste in India, with support from partners Rainer Climate Group and the Food Pact Network.
According to the World Resources Institute, India is one of the largest producers of food waste with approximately 78.2 million tonnes* of food going to waste each year, enough to feed 377 million people. Despite the enormous scale of the problem, India has yet to align with the Sustainable Development Goals 12.3 to halve global food waste by 2030. WRAP warns that without urgent action, India risks falling behind in this critical area.
David Rogers, “India is not alone in its food waste crisis. Food waste is a global issue requiring action by every nation. WRAP is putting forward a Commitment of Action to tackle this head-on. We will work with partners to deliver a food waste reduction strategy specific to its needs. Only with collaboration can we stop the immense damage food loss and waste has on the environment - action by one nation benefits all. The world urgently needs to accelerate food systems change at scale and speed, and action in India is vital.”
WRAP’s Commitment to Action will scale its international model through tailored interventions across key sectors in India including in large hotels to reduce sourcing and kitchen waste, promote behaviour change in guests, and increase food donation. It will partner with major fast-moving consumer goods companies to set waste reduction targets and influence supply chain innovations. And it will contribute to food waste policy development and work with small, and medium enterprises (SMEs) in manufacturing, retail, and hospitality to identify waste hotspots and pilot collective reduction strategies.
The programme in India will address key barriers across the value chain, and support cross-border knowledge sharing. In this way it builds on WRAP’s successful and growing Food Pact Network – the global initiative supporting national-level public-private partnerships or Pacts which bring together businesses, policymakers, ecosystems stakeholders across the value chain to collectively reduce food loss and waste.
The program in India will be a modular adaptation of this framework, informed by international best practices and tailored to local needs. WRAP believes coordinated action could make India a global leader in food loss and waste reduction, and deliver significant environmental, economic, and public health benefits for the country.
The success of the model is being replicated worldwide with a $15 million funding boost from Rainier Climate Group helping to scale work in five countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Similar Pacts now operate through the South Africa Food Loss and Waste Initiative, Pacific Coast Food Waste Commitment, Pacto Por La Comida (Mexico), GRASP 2030 (Indonesia), Brasil Sem Desperdisio (Brazil, launching in 2025), U.S. Food Waste Pact, Samen Tegen Voedselverspilling (Netherlands), Kai Commitment (New Zealand) and the International Food Waste Coalition.
David Rogers, “WRAP will bring the technical support and experiences from multiple countries to help address the needs in India and help it make similar reductions in food waste that we've seen in other countries. We look forward to speaking to Commitment Makers at the CGI workshop and with potential funders about this critical programme of work.”
Notes to Editor
- David Rogers, Director of International Development is available for interviews. David has over 16 years at WRAP, leading international work on sustainable, circular systems for food and materials. He has developed and overseen high-impact initiatives across six continents in policy, business supply chains, and consumer campaigns on plastics, food, and textiles. David has worked with the EU Commission, UNEP, FCDO, US EPA, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, WEF, governments, foundations, and corporations worldwide. Recognised as a global leader in public-private agreements, he has shaped accords on food waste, plastics, and textiles in multiple regions.
- Clinton Global Initiative Founded by President Bill Clinton in 2005, the Clinton Global Initiative is a community of doers representing a broad cross section of society and dedicated to the idea that we can accomplish more together than we can apart. Through CGI’s unique model, more than 10,000 organizations have launched more than 4,000 Commitments to Action — new, specific, and measurable projects and programs – that are making a difference in the lives of more than 500 million people in 180 countries.
- WRAP is a global environmental action NGO with offices in the UK, US and Australia, working to catalyse policy makers, businesses and individuals to transform the systems that create our food, textiles and manufactured products. Together these account for nearly 50% of global greenhouse emissions. Our goal is to enable the world to transition from the old take-make-dispose model of production to more sustainable approaches that will radically reduce waste and carbon emissions from everyday products. To do so we examine sustainability challenges through the lens of people’s day-to-day lives and create solutions that can transform entire systems to benefit the planet, nature and people.
- *World Resources Institute (WRI).