Food Waste Around the World is a Food Circle project to provide information and raise awareness about food waste. The project is designed as a series of interviews with students from different countries to understand how this issue is tackled and perceived around the world. This is made possible thanks to Sapient, the mother company of Food Circle, which every year offers internships to students from all around the globe, creating a uniquely multicultural environment.
Today we speak with Coralie Fevre, Former Social Media Coordinator in Food Circle from France!
Climate Action in General:
Climate change is now affecting every country on every continent. It is disrupting national economies and affecting lives, costing people, communities, and countries dearly today and even more tomorrow. People are experiencing the significant impacts of climate change, which include changing weather patterns, rising sea levels, and more extreme weather events. The greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are driving climate change and continue to rise. They are now at their highest levels in history. Without action, the world’s average surface temperature is projected to rise over the 21st century and is likely to surpass 3 degrees Celsius this century—with some areas of the world expected to warm even more. The poorest and most vulnerable people are being affected the most.
To address climate change, countries adopted the Paris Agreement at the COP21 in Paris on 12 December 2015. The Agreement entered into force less than a year later. In the agreement, all countries agreed to work to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and given the grave risks, to strive for 1.5 degrees Celsius. Implementation of the Paris Agreement is essential for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and provides a roadmap for climate actions that will reduce emissions and build climate resilience. [1]
Climate Action in France
Through the 2015 Paris Agreement, the Parties have collectively agreed to achieve net-zero GHG emissions by the latter half of the 21st century. The Agreement urges developed countries to reach this target before developing countries. This goal is grounded in the assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of a shrinking of the carbon budget – i.e. the residual margins available for emitting greenhouse gases – if we wish to keep global warming to below 2°C. Based on past trends, we only have three decades' worth of emissions at our disposal: after that, we will be out of options – running the risk of serious and irreversible damage.
Action to tackle climate change and the resulting benefits for the community are not automatically factored into public and private stakeholders' financial profitability calculations. The shadow price of carbon makes up for this market failure: it gives an idea of the distance we still have to cover and, as such, expresses the value that society must attach to the public and private decarbonization initiatives we need to roll out to get there. These are the two sides of the same coin. [2]
Sustainable Action Plan in Sapient:
Sapient is a project-oriented and democratic social business that strives to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN through our projects, collaborations, helping other initiatives, and a lot of hard work. The company is located in Amsterdam, Netherlands, but the teams come from all over the world. Two main projects concerning the sustainability and climate action are:
Food Circle: For active food waste organizations in the Netherlands, unity is very important, an individual fight is all the harder to hold on to. They have created a network between the food waste organizations that have never existed before, and by doing so, they can make a bigger difference together. Food Circle serves more or less as a beehive orchestrater, it coordinates the needs and strengths of each organization, so that all the bees can benefit from each others' hard work and achievements without losing their individual input and character.
SapientNRG: SapientNRG is the engineering projects branch of Sapient. It strives for sustainability, which means that it tackles renewable energy, waste management, pollution, transportation, and infrastructure. Despite the damage the world has endured over the past century, the effects are not irreversible; they want to change the momentum towards a clean high-tech world. Unique, innovative, and intricate projects will, alongside other companies, engineers, and the government, push towards a much greener future. [3]
Food Waste Action Plan in the Social Media Department of Food Circle: The Social Media Department expands and supports a wide range of activities following the objectives of the Food Circle project as one of the primary departments. The department develops projects such as Compost Project and (Zero Waste Chef) through accounts in Media, the Internet, and networks. Since the central goal of Food Circle is to reduce food waste, the Social Media Department has taken significant actions to raise awareness by producing content and conceptions. The department has established close relationships with other teams to create a crucial part of sustainable business based on sustainability by making technical and efficient scope.
For this purpose, other experts can use the experiences of specialists and coordinators in different departments at Food Circle as a basis of information for developing sustainable businesses in reducing food waste initiatives. The strategies designed in the Food Circle project follow climate actions in this regard. Content creation and sale-related products have been one of the strategies that the social media department has implemented.
In this interview, we intend to talk to one of the specialists in the social media department concerning strategies and solutions tailored to climate action in the food circle project. This division has been prepared and arranged as a supplementary section in the Food Waste Around the World blog series. Considering the activities performed and successful experiences, we try to provide a creative mindset concerning SDGs, and the executive dimensions will introduce in different departments and projects at Sapient.
Hello, Coralie! Thank you for participating in the interview. Before we start, could you please briefly introduce yourself?
Hello! I am Coralie, I am 23 years old, and I live in France. I’m studying for a master’s degree with a major in marketing and business. I have interned for Food Circle as a Social Media and Promotions Coordinator from January to June 2022.
What are the most critical problems of sustainable development in the growth of food waste businesses?
Consumer’s mindsets. For example, when developing Food Circle’s social media strategy we have done a consumer study and what we’ve noticed is that a lot of people do not know how to be more sustainable, a lot of them think that it is a complicated process.
What are the most effective content-enhancing strategies for food waste?
People enjoy relatable content that is easy to understand and apply to their daily life. For instance, tips and tricks on how to waste less food at home.
Have digital marketing strategies been effective in raising awareness about food waste reduction?
Yes, greatly. At Food Circle we have been able to reach thousands of people solely with our digital marketing strategy.
Do you consider the goods offered concerning sustainable development businesses to be competitive?
No, I believe that there are gaps to be filled. There are still a lot of products and services that can be created in this field.
What is your suggestion for improving food waste awareness strategies?
My suggestion would be to put yourself in the consumer's shoes. We need to understand them first.
Do you believe in the future of sustainable businesses?
As I said earlier, there’s still a lot to do. Every day we see new businesses arising in the sustainable field, I think that this field has a great future ahead.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you.
Thanks so much for your time and participation!
That was a conversation with Coralie from our Social Media team at Sapient.
Interviewed: Coralie Fevre
Interviewer and Writer: Majid Zamanshoar
Read our other blogs:
Check out our recipes to reduce food waste:
Follow Food circle over on social media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/foodcircleams
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/food.circle.ams/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoodCircleAms
Minds: https://www.minds.com/FSEN/
Download and use food waste apps
Download the international “Too good to go”
References
Climate Action, Sustainable Development Goals, [online] Available at: www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/climate-action
Climate Action in France, [online] Available at: https://www.strategie.gouv.fr/sites/strategie.gouv.fr/files/atoms/files/fs-the-value-for-climate-action-final-web.pdf
Sapient SEE, [online] Available at: sapientsee.wixsite.com/sapient/new-about-us
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