A coalition of nearly 40 leaders across government, business and civil society which is working towards achieving the United Nations’ Sustainability Development Goals has welcomed its first “champion” from the cruise industry.
Jan Swartz, Carnival Corporation’s executive vice-president of strategic operations, said it was an “honour” to join Champions 12.3 and help accelerate progress towards fulfilling Target 12.3 of the UN’s goals on food loss and waste.
“Carnival Corporation realises that collaboration leads to great solutions,” she said. “I’m eager to work with leaders across several sectors to find ways to leverage each other’s learnings and expertise.”
Dr Liz Goodwin, a 12.3 Champions member, said Swartz is “ideally placed” to represent the efforts on food waste reduction across Carnival Corp’s nine brands, which include P&O Cruises and Cunard, and share best practices across the industry.
“The cruise industry is an important part of the travel and hospitality sector, and as such, it has a vital role to play in helping to reduce food loss and waste globally,” Dr Goodwin noted.
“Jan brings a unique insight into the daily challenges of tackling food loss and waste in a globally dispersed organisation operating 24/7, 365 days a year and serving millions of guests each year.”
Swartz’s invitation to join the coalition comes after Carnival Corp announced it had achieved a 38% reduction in food waste per passenger against its 2019 baseline.
The cruise giant said this means it is on track to reach its goal to reduce food waste by 50% per person by 2030 compared to its 2019 baseline.
To achieve this goal, culinary teams across its fleet track dining trends and adjust the amount of food prepared and served while also educating guests and crew about helping to reduce food waste onboard.
Carnival Corp brand Costa Cruises has been a member of the Friends of Champions 12.3 network since 2018.
The cruise line partners will use local food banks to give fully prepared unserved food to local communities and has donated more than 300,000 servings of food since 2017.
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