Feeding a city the size of Istanbul is a formidable undertaking. As urban centres grow denser and consumer expectations rise, the systems that move food from farm to fork must evolve, becoming smarter, cleaner and more resilient.
With this challenge in mind, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) organized a three-day knowledge exchange visit in Paris, bringing together a Turkish delegation of EBRD clients, the municipality of Istanbul and Turkish start-ups with French public authorities, the Greater Paris Metropole, urban last-mile logistics companies and logisticians, for a closer look at how another megacity is rethinking food flows. The visit took place under the FAO-EBRD Agrifood Climate and Environmental Sustainability (ACES) initiative, launched in 2024 to strengthen climate-resilient and environmentally responsible food systems across EBRD regions.
The visit introduced Istanbul stakeholders – including representatives from the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, major retailers such as Migros, the A101/Aydın Group and Yenir, and logistics firm Netlog – to global best practices in large-scale food distribution, urban logistics and food waste reduction. It also created a springboard for dialogue between public authorities, private companies and financial institutions on low carbon agrologistics systems. The delegation visited the iconic Rungis International Market, where the delegation saw firsthand how a 234-hectare platform moves nearly three million tonnes of food each year through sophisticated operations and governance, cementing its reputation as a global benchmark for large-scale food distribution. Visits to the SOGARIS and Corsalis logistics hubs illustrated how cities can repurpose existing urban spaces for multimodal, low-carbon last-mile delivery, cutting congestion while boosting efficiency.
“Efficient urban food systems happen when private investment, infrastructure, innovation and policy move together,” commented Erifyli Nomikou, Principal at EBRD.
Discussions with Greater Paris Metropole and AgriParis Seine highlighted the role that local authorities can play in enabling logistic solutions and coordinating regional food supply chains – such as those across the Seine basin – to strengthen food system resilience at scale.
“Urban food logistics relies heavily on how land and logistics real estate are planned and used. Optimizing these spaces is essential to enable efficient, sustainable last-mile delivery while reducing environmental impacts and easing congestion for the benefit of urban residents and consumers,” said Emmanuel Hidier, Senior Economist at the FAO Investment Centre.
Briefings from the French Ministry of Agriculture on France’s national roadmap to tackle food loss and waste were complemented by exchanges with Phenix and ANDES (Association Nationale de Développement des Épiceries Solidaires) on new business models, digital tools and social initiatives that help retailers reduce food waste while promoting social inclusion. This progress stems from a decade of French legislation aimed at curbing food waste, including rules that forbid operators from rendering still-edible food inedible, mandate food donations and offer tax incentives for doing so.
For leading Turkish retailers and logistics providers such as A101, Migros, Yenir and Netlog, the exchange also spoke to concrete priorities at home, ranging from scaling reusable crate systems and cutting packaging waste to reducing food loss across dense store networks or preparing for the gradual electrification of last-mile delivery fleets. Paris’s experience with coordinated street-level routing, delivery time-windowing and regulated low-emission zones offered highly relevant insights for Istanbul, where congestion, fragmented delivery practices and emerging emissions policies are shaping the sector’s future.
Beyond the technical discussions, one message stood out for all participants: collaboration across public and private players is crucial. This is promising for the project’s next steps – the finalization of a roadmap on food and food-waste logistics for Istanbul, further technical deep dives through e-trainings, and a detailed analysis of the economic benefits of targeted agrologistics investments for Istanbul.
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To know more, check out the related project page and the report titled Building resilience in urban food logistics systems.