Tesco announced that it has agreed partnerships with 24 of its largest food suppliers who will adopt the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal to halve food waste by 2030.

The agreement will see the suppliers, who represent over £17bn worth of Tesco sales, publish food waste data for their own operations within the next year.  They have also committed to take the steps needed to reduce food waste in their supply chain as well as innovating to make it easier for consumers to reduce waste in their homes.

The suppliers involved are: Yeo Valley; Gomez; Branston; Greencore; Icelandic Seachill; AMT; DPS; Kepak Meat Division; G’s; Allied Bakeries; Moy Park; Richard Hochfeld; Ornua; Cranswick; Samworths; 2SFG; Hilton; Espersen; Greenyard Frozen; Müller Milk & Ingredients; Kerry Foods; Bakkavor; Froneri; and Noble.

Tesco said the agreement is the first struck between a major retailer and its food suppliers. It follows agreements over the last 12 months at IGD and Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) with branded suppliers to align efforts around Champions 12.3 goals.

In addition, Tesco announced its businesses in the Republic of Ireland, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary have now published their food waste data, following four years of publication in the UK. The move builds on the retailer’s commitment to transparency on food waste data to use that information to help reduce food waste in its operations.

Food waste campaigner Tristram Stuart welcomed the group’s move, saying: “We have been challenging Tesco and other supermarkets on transparent reporting of food waste for years now. This commitment to ensure that supply chain waste is measured and reported makes Tesco the world-leading supermarket on transparent food waste reporting, and represents a significant step towards meeting the global goal to halve food waste by 2030.

“It’s time for other businesses to follow suit, and for Tesco, along with the rest of the world’s supermarkets, to demonstrate, if they can, that their businesses are not inherently wasteful.”

Announcing the initiative at a meeting of Champions 12.3 in New York yesterday, Tesco’s Chief Executive Dave Lewis said: “Great progress has been made, but the reality is that we need many more companies, countries or cities committing to halve food waste by 2030, measuring and publishing their data and acting on that insight to tackle food waste. I am delighted that many of our major suppliers have taken this important step so we can work in partnership to reduce food waste”

Champions 12.3, chaired by Lewis, is a coalition of leaders from government, businesses, international organisations and research institutions dedicated to accelerating progress towards achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development target of halving per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer level, and reducing food losses in supply chains by 2030.