Food banks do more than rescue surplus food and distribute it to vulnerable communities — they also play an important role in combating climate change. By preventing food waste, food banks help reduce harmful emissions such as methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. In Colombia, food banks are increasingly being recognized for their dual role in addressing both hunger and environmental challenges.
The Asociación de Bancos de Alimentos de Colombia (ABACO), which brings together 26 food banks across the country, works each year to prevent edible food from being discarded. Through donations from agricultural producers, manufacturers, retailers, hotels, restaurants, and individuals, the organization strengthens food security and promotes healthier nutrition.
According to its most recent figures, ABACO has distributed more than 54,000 tons of food to vulnerable populations, benefiting more than 4,500 organizations and reaching over 1.2 million people nationwide. In addition, these efforts have helped prevent more than 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
Reducing methane emissions and mitigating hunger
How can its activity mitigate hunger and, at the same time, fight climate change? Ana Catalina Suárez Peña, senior director of strategy and innovation at The Global FoodBanking Network, explained the connection between food recovery, hunger reduction, and climate change in an article published by El País in Spain.
“While millions suffer hunger, one-third of all food produced in the world is wasted,” she wrote. “This decomposing food is responsible for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, largely methane, a super-pollutant 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in the short term.”
She adds that most of the food that ends up in landfills is still suitable for human consumption. “By recovering it before it is wasted and redirecting it to people in need, we can simultaneously reduce methane emissions and feed more people. Rapidly reducing methane emissions can serve as an ‘emergency brake’ against climate change, and food banks in more than 19 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are already doing this.”
According to Suárez Peña, Ecuador and Paraguay are leading the way. In the case of Ecuador, the government has recognized the mitigating value of food recovery, as well as the need for sustained investment so that food banks can multiply their climate results. In Paraguay’s case, its national climate plan establishes quantified methane reduction targets and designates the Food Bank Foundation of Paraguay as a national-level climate actor responsible for tracking and reporting progress.
Food banks as providers of climate services
“Together, Ecuador and Paraguay establish two essential precedents: climate recognition and climate accountability,” concludes Suárez Peña, who then places Mexico and Colombia, which “illustrate how food loss and waste reduction are being structurally integrated into climate policy, positioning food banks as providers of climate services and highlighting their importance for climate change adaptation.”
In the case of Colombia, she highlights that it included a dedicated mitigation measure to strengthen food banks under ABACO, recognizing their dual role in climate mitigation and adaptation. She also mentions that Chile, Guatemala, and Costa Rica are laying the groundwork.
Likewise, she argues that collectively the food banks of Paraguay, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala, and Chile are projected to prevent 293 million kilograms of food from reaching landfills, which would avoid the emission of 10,440 metric tons of methane and 261 kilotons of carbon dioxide over five years, equivalent to removing approximately 56,739 gasoline vehicles over five years.
“By 2030, their combined operations will increase access to food for 3.4 million people, with 60% of all food distributed being of high nutritional value, including fruits and vegetables, grains and legumes, dairy, animal proteins, nuts and seeds,” she adds, and stresses that these are not “aspirational goals,” but rather “projections based on operational data collected under the FRAME methodology and validated by national governments.”
Suárez Peña is confident that together, these countries “represent a humanitarian climate infrastructure already in operation, whose full potential is only possible through formal recognition and sustained investment.”