Low demand mitigation options for achieving Sustainable Development Goals: Role of reduced food waste and sustainable dietary choice

Food waste reduction at consumer end and balanced, sustainable healthy dietary choices featuring less meat and less processed food have clear climate change mitigation benefits. This paper synthesises the existing body of literature (2015 to 2022) following systematic evidence search and screening using Scopus database and Google Scholar to explore the link of these two demand side mitigation options with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Assessment shows that these mitigation options not only have synergies with energy saving (SDG 7) goal but are intricately linked with awareness and educational programmes (SDG 4 and SDG 12) along with tech-nological solutions/innovation (SDG 9), much broader innovative policy designs (SDG 16) going beyond market incentives, and involvement of multiple social actors (SDG 17). In aggregate, synergies with the SDGs outweigh trade-offs. Trade-offs can be addressed through policy measures, strategic information sharing, creating part-nerships among social actors. Specific interventions related to these two demand-side mitigation options are categorised using ???Avoid???, ???Shift??? and ???Improve??? framework. This framework helps in categorising interventions/ policy measures leading to various levels of emission reduction: incremental reduction through ???Shift??? and ???Improve??? interventions and absolute reduction through ???Avoid??? interventions. A total of 92 interventions are identified. We summarised the social actors involved in implementing these interventions for each of the ???Avoid???, ???Shift??? and ???Improve??? categories and outlined the scope for future research.

Automated summary

This paper synthesizes the existing literature on food waste reduction at the consumer end and healthy dietary choices featuring less meat and less processed food, and explores the link between these mitigation options and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The assessment shows that these options have synergies with energy saving and are intricately linked with awareness and educational programs, technological solutions/innovation, policy designs, and involvement of multiple social actors. The paper categorizes specific interventions related to these two mitigation options using the framework of "Avoid," "Shift," and "Improve." A total of 92 interventions are identified and the social actors involved in implementing these interventions are summarized.