World Wildlife Fund Sustainability Works

One of the keys to comprehensive and successful conservation programs is collaboration among a variety of organizations. Restoring water to The Rio Grande Rio Bravo, which winds over 1,800 miles from Colorado through New Mexico and Texas to The Gulf of Mexico, is a task that requires dynamic collaboration. WWF’s partnership with Finish Dishwashing brand exemplifies this type of joint effort whereby multiple organizations join forces for a common conservation goal. Funding from this partnership supports four key conservation projects on the ground, helping to replenish one of America’s most water-stressed rivers.

In 2019, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and American Beverage (ABA) joined forces to tackle a growing environmental crisis: plastic waste. This partnership is driven by one shared goal: to ensure that every plastic bottle remains in the loop to become another bottle, moving the world towards less plastic use and no plastic in nature. This kind of “circular economy” ensures materials are remade, reducing the need for new plastic and minimizing environmental impact. To that end, over the past five years we’ve worked to deliver meaningful, practical, and innovative solutions — and our efforts have yielded significant results.

In 2022, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Triangle Associates released a study showcasing the transformative benefits of replacing traditional milk cartons with bulk milk dispensers in K-12 schools. This research demonstrated that such a switch can dramatically cut packaging and milk waste, reduce school expenses, and boost student nutrition by increasing milk consumption. To help schools make this change, WWF’s report detailed several real-world school examples, with both milk and cost savings data, and a Cost Savings Estimate Calculator for schools to model their own potential savings. Now, a recent pilot project in Washington State offers compelling new evidence that bulk milk dispensers could be a game changer when it comes to reducing food waste in school cafeterias across the country.

Each year, October 16 marks World Food Day. This year’s theme, Right to foods for a better life and a better future, perfectly summarizes why WWF works on food. Food is not a nice to have, it’s a must have. But access to food doesn’t always come easy for everyone, and of the food we do produce – 40% of it is lost or wasted. By 2050, we’ll have 9 billion people to feed. If we’re going to do that, we need to find ways to improve the efficiency and productivity of how we produce and source our food so we can ensure a healthy future for both people and the planet.

From transformative global solutions, to making small changes in the school cafeteria, to embracing seaweed as a food source, in celebration of World Food Day, here are 3 food-focused solutions to help us rewrite the future of food.

1. Curbing Environmental Destruction for Food Production: Codex Planetarius is a proposed system of minimum environmental performance standards to improve the sustainability of globally traded food and soft commodities. Codex aims to grow demand for globally traded food while minimizing the negative environmental consequences. Dive into this concept on WWF's Nature Breaking Podcast - listen here.

3. Turning Cafeterias into Classrooms: The traditional classroom is not the only place where learning takes place. Since 2017, WWF has been turning cafeterias across the US into classrooms –empowering students to understand and act on the environmental consequences of food waste, such as its impact on climate change, water use, and biodiversity loss. Food Waste Warriors incorporates hands-on learning and encourages students to be advocates for sustainable food practices in their schools and communities. Learn more about Food Waste Warriors here and check out what one school in Georgia has been up to in this recent segment from ABC News:

To the business community: pay attention to this next statistic because it has critical ramifications for your company and livelihood.

According to WWF's latest Living Planet Report, we’ve seen a 73% decline in the average size of wildlife populations since 1970.

Sad, right? But what does wildlife have to do with you? You may be thinking that this is a problem for conservationists and scientists—fewer fish in Brazil won’t make a difference to your company one way or another. I’m sorry to tell you this, but that couldn’t be more wrong.

Every two years, WWF releases a state-of-the-planet report chronicling the health of our natural world, the drivers of biodiversity loss, and solutions. That shocking statistic—an average 73% decline in wildlife populations—is the canary in the coal mine. Biodiversity loss is inextricably linked with other aspects of planetary health, including our climate and availability of natural resources. In short, this is not just about animals; this is a human problem, and a problem for business. Take it as a warning sign about our planet’s ability to support life and provide the resources on which we depend. This is a red flag so big and bright you could see it from outer space.

The global food system is complex, shaped by the unique cultures, traditions, and environmental contexts of different regions. The newly launched Great Food Puzzle report introduces a groundbreaking approach to addressing the biodiversity, climate, and health crises through sustainable food systems. Rather than promoting a one-size-fits-all solution, this report helps countries identify actions that can be adapted to their specific contexts. By creating a typology of six Food Systems Types, the Great Food Puzzle reveals high-impact solutions for each group of countries, considering both environmental and socioeconomic factors.

One of the report’s most compelling findings is the unrealized potential of public education on healthy and sustainable food consumption. Raising awareness and changing behaviors are universal challenges, and some of the most innovative examples of food system transformation are already occurring within schools.

A Conversation With Josefina Braña Varela and Lucas Black

At last year’s Climate Week NYC, WWF formally launched the Nature-Based Solutions Origination Platform (NbS-OP), a novel tool designed to create large-scale positive change for people, nature, and climate across priority tropical forest landscapes. To mark the anniversary, we sat down with WWF’s Josefina Braña Varela and Lucas Black, platform co-leads, to reflect on 12 months of progress and their recent trip to Madagascar—one of the NbS-OP landscapes.

For our Rising Stars series, we're featuring the next generation of leaders who are working toward a more sustainable world. We recently spoke with Jessica Beal, manager of sustainability at American Beverage Association, to learn about her role, her inspiration, and advice for those new to the field.

Food systems are the number one threat to nature and a major contributor to biodiversity loss. Feeding a growing world population while protecting nature and reducing GHG emissions is the imperative of our time. While the challenges are universal, solutions must be tailored to local contexts, as food systems are deeply influenced by culture, heritage, and local context. This means that what works in one place may not be effective in another.

The Great Food Puzzle series adapts solutions to the unique needs of countries by clustering countries with similar socioeconomic and environmental factors. This classification helps identify key actions to drive the shift toward healthier and more sustainable food systems—offering an opportunity for countries to learn from each other and emulate the successes of peers. The US has a similar type of food system to that of the U.K., the Netherlands, Germany, and Japan.

Investor interest in financing nature-based solutions is burgeoning, but given the $711 billion funding gap, you wouldn’t know it. With over half of the global GDP reliant on nature, and the global ambition to achieve goals set in the 2016 Paris Agreement and the Global Biodiversity Framework, financing nature-based solutions is smart business. And yet, the sector struggles to secure the necessary investment to combat nature loss.

The overwhelming majority of capital allocated to climate and nature is directed toward energy, transport and infrastructure- food systems receive only 4%. Underinvestment in agriculture, especially in the transition of global food systems toward regenerative and nature-positive production practices, stands out given the sector’s profound impact on nature. Agricultural production and food systems are the main drivers of biodiversity loss, deforestation, conversion of natural habitats, and topsoil loss. They consume 70% of freshwater and generate one third of global greenhouse gas emissions.