Turning Food Rescue Into Climate Action: A New Chapter For The San Antonio Food Bank

For years, we’ve known that food rescue does more than put good food on the table.

When the San Antonio Food Bank rescues food that might otherwise go to waste, we’re helping provide nutritious food to neighbors across Southwest Texas. We’re also keeping good food out of landfills, where wasted food generates methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

For nearly a decade, we’ve been asking an important question:

Could we measure that environmental impact of food rescue and could doing so help us rescue even more food?

We’re proud to share that we have partnered with Feeding America and Brightly to help create a new pathway that recognizes the environmental impact of food rescue while opening opportunities to generate new resources through carbon credits.

Today, Brightly announced the first issuance of carbon credits under Verra‘s VM0046 Methodology for Reducing Food Loss and Waste, recognizing avoided methane emissions when qualifying rescued food is redirected from waste streams back into the human food supply.

For the San Antonio Food Bank, this moment has been years in the making.

What started as an idea from our President & CEO, Eric S. Cooper, has become a first-of-its-kind milestone for food rescue.

Eric’s interest in the connection between food rescue and environmental impact grew from conversations with family members working in the energy and carbon sectors and from a desire to understand how the Food Bank could be an even better steward of the resources entrusted to us.

This led to years of research, conversations, and collaboration.

We wanted to understand whether the environmental impact of food rescue could be measured responsibly. Additionally, we wanted to understand whether that impact could ultimately help us rescue even more food.

As conversations about food rescue and climate impact grew across the Feeding America network, a pathway began to emerge.

The connection is simple.

When edible food is rescued instead of sent to a landfill, it can serve a neighbor rather than become waste. At the same time, keeping that food out of landfills helps avoid the methane emissions associated with food decomposition.

That means one act—rescuing food—can create two important outcomes:

1. Nourish neighbors.
2. Protect the environment.

Food loss and waste is responsible for an estimated 8–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Brightly’s analysis found that the environmental impact of that rescued food was equivalent to taking approximately 3,330 cars off the road for a year.

The opportunity to quantify that impact is what makes this moment so significant.

For more than three years, Brightly has worked with Feeding America partner food banks, including the San Antonio Food Bank, and nonprofit food rescue organizations across the country to measure the climate impact of qualifying food rescue.

After independent validation and verification, the project was approved by Verra, resulting in the issuance of 721,649 Verified Carbon Units (VCUs) for qualifying food rescue from March 2020 through December 2023.

Simply put, food rescue can now be measured and recognized not only for the food it provides, but for the environmental impact it creates.

Food rescue has always been about making the most of what we have to better serve our community.

A truck picks up food that might otherwise go to waste. A volunteer helps sort it. A partner organization distributes it. A family enjoys it as a meal.

Now, we can better understand another part of that story: the environmental impact created when that food stays in the food system instead of entering waste stream.

Food and financial donors to Feeding America and partner food banks can now better understand the full impact of their generosity—helping nourish neighbors while protecting the planet.

Companies seeking measurable climate action can purchase these verified carbon credits. The majority of net proceeds from credit sales will be returned to participating food rescue organizations to help support the resources required to rescue and distribute more food, including trucks, drivers, refrigeration and staff.

At the San Antonio Food Bank, we serve more than 120,000 neighbors across 29 counties in Southwest Texas. This new opportunity can help generate additional resources to support food rescue and ultimately help us get more good food to neighbors who need it.

More food rescued.
More families nourished.
Less food reaching landfills.

We’re incredibly grateful to Feeding America, Brightly, and Verra, as well as the many experts, partners, and team members who helped turn an idea into action.

This is more than a new chapter for the San Antonio Food Bank. It’s an opportunity to show what can happen when hunger relief and environmental stewardship come together.