Global food loss and waste embodies unrecognized harms to air quality and biodiversity hotspots

Global food loss and waste (FLW) undermines the resilience and sustainability of food systems and is closely tied to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals on climate, resource use and food security. Here we reveal strong yet under-discussed interconnections between FLW and two other Sustainable Development Goals of Human Health and Life on Land via the nitrogen cycle. We find that eliminating global FLW in 2015 would have reduced anthropogenic NH3 emissions associated with food production by 11.4 Tg (16%), decreased local PM2.5 concentrations by up to 5 μg m−3 and PM2.5-related years of life lost by 1.5 million years, and mitigated nitrogen critical load exceedances in global biodiversity hotspots by up to 19%. Halving FLW in 2030 will reduce years of life lost by 0.5–0.8 million years and nitrogen deposition by 4.7–6.0 Tg N per year (4%) (range for socioeconomic pathways). Complementary to near-term NH3 mitigation potential via technological measures, our study emphasizes incentivizing FLW reduction efforts from air quality and ecosystem health perspectives. Most research on the impacts of food loss and waste (FLW) looks at food security, resource use and climate. Based on product-level FLW data and an NH3 emission inventory, atmospheric chemistry simulations reveal the potential of FLW reductions in mitigating PM2.5 air pollution and nitrogen deposition.