The first-of-its-kind initiative helps innovative solutions scale their potential to address food waste and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

[NEW YORK, NY, September 25, 2025] - Today at Climate Week NYC, ReFED, the U.S.-based nonprofit working to solve food waste, announced a new open call focused on methane reduction for its Catalytic Grant Fund, a first-of-its-kind initiative designed to support food waste solutions with catalytic funding that can unlock outsized impact. The fourth open call since the Fund’s inception, Minimizing Methane Through Food Waste Solutions seeks to support bold solutions that target methane emissions from food loss and waste, which is one of the most powerful levers to cut emissions of this potent greenhouse gas.

Informed by ReFED’s data and insights and the input of its vast network of experts, this open call for the Catalytic Grant Fund will focus on solutions in two high-impact areas:

• Advancing food recycling: Enhancing sorting, decontamination, processing, and access to create more effective and efficient systems.

• Reducing methane in the beef and dairy sectors: Cutting loss and waste by lowering animal mortality, improving supply chain efficiency to get more products to market, preventing food waste at the household level, and reducing enteric emissions through climate-smart feed additives derived from waste streams.

“Food waste is more than a supply chain problem—it’s a climate solution hiding in plain sight,” says Angel Veza, director of innovation initiatives at ReFED. “Solutions that capture value from wasted food, paired with innovations that reshape how we manage beef and dairy systems, can fundamentally shift the methane curve for years to come. Catalytic capital is essential to unlock these opportunities, bridging the gap for innovators and accelerating solutions to scale. This is poised to be our most impactful open call yet.”

Set to begin accepting applications in December 2025, the Minimizing Methane Through Food Waste Solutions open call is seeking additional funders now to unlock greater impact for this open call, given how critical it is to reduce food waste to minimize the immediate effects of climate change. The Catalytic Grant Fund allows philanthropic partners to amplify their impact by combining resources with other mission-aligned funders, ensuring capital flows to the most promising solutions. Together, this funding unlocks high-impact opportunities and attracts additional investment that would otherwise be out of reach. Since 2022, the Catalytic Grant Fund has achieved a 10x multiplier, enabling the portfolio to raise over $32 million in additional funding.

“At the Argosy Foundation, every dollar we put into the Catalytic Grant Fund unlocks multiple dollars in follow-on investment,” says Shirley Hamilton, program officer at the Argosy Foundation. “That kind of leverage is exactly what’s needed to bring food waste and methane solutions to scale—and why we’re proud to be part of this effort by ReFED.”

To support the latest open call on methane reduction, contact Angel Veza at [email protected]. To learn more about the Catalytic Grant Fund, visit grantfund.refed.org. To be the first-to-know when applications open for Minimizing Methane Through Food Waste Solutions, sign up for the ReFED mailing list.