In Brief: The United Nations Tourism and the United Nations Environment Programme have launched the “Recipe of Change” campaign to address food waste in the tourism sector.
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UN Tourism and UNEP Launch Recipe of Change to Tackle Food Waste in Tourism – Image Credit UN Tourism
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and UN Tourism have launched the “Recipe of Change” initiative to address food waste in the tourism sector, with participation from major industry businesses serving over 600 million guests annually.
The “Recipe of Change” initiative, launched by UNEP and UN Tourism on the International Day of Zero Waste, aims to address food waste in the tourism sector. The program encourages participating organizations to measure food waste in their operations and implement operational and behavioral solutions in support of Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, which aims to halve food waste by 2030.
A Global Roundtable was convened to accelerate food waste reduction across the tourism industry. The event highlighted the environmental impact of food waste and noted that reducing it can lower costs for tourism businesses, increase resilience to supply shocks, and contribute to broader food security.
Major tourism sector companies have adopted the “Recipe of Change” initiative. These businesses collectively serve more than 600 million guests each year and generate over USD 56.5 billion in annual revenue. Participating companies include Accor, Constance Hotels & Resorts, Club Med, easyJet holidays, Grupo Posadas, Hilton, Iberostar Hotels & Resorts, Minor Hotels, Meliá Hotels International, Radisson Hotel Group, Six Senses, TUI Group, Lightblue Consulting, and Winnow.
The initiative builds on previous efforts such as the “Green Ramadan” campaign led by Hilton in partnership with Winnow. Participating hotels in the campaign’s early 2023 pilots reduced food waste by over 60%. In subsequent editions, as the initiative expanded from three hotels to 64 hotels in 2026, further reductions of 20-30% were reported.
Food wastage contributes up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and 2.3 billion people experience food insecurity daily.
UN Tourism and UNEP are encouraging additional tourism sector businesses to join the “Recipe of Change” initiative to help accelerate progress toward halving global food waste.
