{
  "id": 10930865,
  "title": "Carbon credits for avoided food waste are now on the market",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/carbon-credits-for-avoided-food-waste-are-now-on-the-market",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-30T11:01:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fast Company",
    "slug": "fast-company",
    "url": "https://www.fastcompany.com/91607198/carbon-credits-for-avoided-food-waste-are-now-on-the-market"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A new type of carbon credit is now available, targeting food waste as a means to reduce carbon emissions. The credits, issued by Verra, the world's largest carbon crediting program, are a result of the efforts of Brightly, a Boston-based startup founded in 2023 by Andy Levitt, who previously founded Purple Carrot, a plant-based meal kit company. These credits allow companies to offset their carbon footprint by funding organizations that collect and distribute food that would have otherwise been wasted.\n\nThe issue of food waste is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Up to 40% of all food produced in the United States goes uneaten, with 60% of that waste ending up in landfills, where it releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Reducing food waste is a crucial step in addressing climate change, as it accounts for 6% to 10% of global emissions.\n\nBrightly's carbon credits create a \"virtuous loop of activity\" that funds food rescue efforts, enabling nonprofits to feed more people in need while also reducing the environmental impact of wasted food. By investing in these credits, corporations can simultaneously tackle both environmental and hunger issues. The credits are calculated based on a food rescue organization's three-year history, establishing a baseline for their environmental benefit and crediting only the additional impact above that baseline.\n\nWhile there is controversy surrounding carbon credits due to concerns about greenwashing and the effectiveness of certain projects, Brightly believes its solution creates a new category of carbon credits that genuinely addresses both environmental and hunger issues. Food manufacturers, grocery stores, and even non-food industry companies could purchase these credits to support food rescue organizations and help mitigate the climate impact of wasted food.",
  "summary": "If a company wants to reduce its carbon footprint, it may buy carbon credits issued by Verra, the world’s largest carbon crediting program. Those credits could be for projects like renewable energy or forest restoration, letting a company claim the environmental benefits from a newly built wind farm or trees planted on once-cleared land. Now there’s a new option: carbon credits for rescued food,…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}