In the era of ongoing climate crisis The attention of scientists and policymakers is increasingly focused on the urban environment. Cities are not only major consumers of resources, but also key battlegrounds in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One of the most effective, but often overlooked, overlooked tools in this fight are Food Sharing Initiatives (FSIs). These projects are now recognized as powerful tools for sustainable urban transformation, which can not only reduce food waste, but also strengthen local resilience to climate change.

Despite their undeniable environmental benefits, many of these initiatives are struggling to survive. New study from Lund University, implemented within the project CULTIVATE, reveals that behind the positive idea of sharing lies a complex network of barriers that hinder their full potential.

Obstacles on the road to sustainability

Sharing food directly contributes to climate change mitigation by keeping resources in circulation and minimizing waste, which when decomposed in landfills produces methane (a potent greenhouse gas). information from the external environment). A study published in Journal of Cleaner Production However, it points out that academic and political debates have so far paid little attention to „"real" operational difficulties of these projects.

The study's authors, Vera Sadovska, Yuliya Voytenko Palgan, and Oksana Mont, identified three main pillars of the problems:

• Six challenge categories: These factors directly affect the daily functioning of FSIs. In particular, the lack of resources (finance, knowledge, human capacity), restrictive regulations (land rights, legal definition of food) and questions image, which includes public trust and the need to change consumer behavior.
• Six risk categories: Initiatives face risks in the areas of safety, health, governance and reputation.
• Seven types of cargo loads: Operation is not just about the initial enthusiasm. It includes the costs of establishment, ongoing operation and the high investments needed to make the project viable. to expand (scaling) outside of small social bubbles.

Why does this matter from a climate perspective?

If a food sharing initiative fails after the pilot phase, not only is the invested energy lost, but also the opportunity for systemic change in the city’s food system. Sources point out that the barriers are not just administrative; they determine whether a sustainable solution becomes a permanent part of the city or just a short-term experiment. To effectively respond to climate change, we need FSIs to grow and be stable.

The key to success, according to scientists, is a more detailed understanding of investment needs, which change during the development of the project – from launch through growth to long-term maintenance.

Strategies for the future

To overcome these obstacles, the study suggests nine mitigation strategies. They emphasize the necessity stronger cooperation across the ecosystem. For food sharing to truly transform our cities into more climate-resilient places, coordination is needed between:

• public authorities and policy makers,
• food safety authorities,
• retailers and charities.

The CULTIVATE project, coordinated by Anna Davies from Trinity College Dublin, calls for targeted support through this research to enable FSIs to overcome their "childhood illnesses" and become a pillar of modern, low-emission urban infrastructure.

An analogy for understanding: Imagine the fight against climate change as building a dam against rising water. Food-sharing initiatives are like important building blocks of this dam. But if these blocks are too heavy to transport (cost), do not meet strict design standards (regulation), or are not properly installed by workers (lack of skills), the dam will remain leaky. Only if cities and institutions help shape and install these blocks properly can the resulting structure protect us from the coming wave. JRi