COP28 creates momentum to tackle the food-climate nexus

In its COP 28 special edition, the news organisation DEVEX risks a comparison between COPs and toddlers. Like toddlers, COPs are a work in progress: they come up with initiatives that grow incrementally each year and need nurturing. Like for toddlers, small steps are big deals. But parents and climate activists wonder whether these achievements will be good enough. (News #1)

However, as far as the food-climate nexus is concerned, there seems to be a wide agreement that COP28 has created momentum, with a full day being dedicated to food and agriculture for the first time. 

A notable outcome was the COP28 UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Action, endorsed by 158 nations, who committed to include emissions from agriculture and farming into their national climate action plans. (Publication #1)

In this context, countries including Brazil, Cambodia, Norway, Rwanda and Sierra Leone launched the Alliance of Champions for Food Systems Transformation, committing to update their national climate plans with clear and measurable targets by COP30 in 2025. (News #2)

Nations also established the “Loss and Damage Fund” to help poor countries already in the grip of climate change. This is particularly important in terms of the food-climate nexus, as agriculture is one of the sector the most affected by natural disasters, with FAO estimating 3.8 trillion US dollar worth of losses in crops and livestock production over the past 30 years. (Publication #2) Despite being a positive start, the fund only secured funding to cover less than 0.2% of the required amount. (News #1 & #4)

FAO presented a roadmap which outlines how governments can simultaneously end hunger and cut emissions from food in a fair and just manner. It outlines a comprehensive strategy spanning the next three years that encompasses a diverse portfolio of solutions across ten distinct domains of action: clean energy, crops, fisheries and aquaculture, food loss and waste, forests and wetlands, healthy diets, livestock, soil and water, and data and inclusive policies. (Publication #3, News #3). Despite its shortcomings (no clear targets included, failure to incorporate nature protection goals, insufficient attention to structural inequalities…), it has been acknowledged as the first of its kind, similar to the IEA’s Net Zero Roadmap for energy.  (Publication #4) 

The first ever Global Stock Take, a mid-term review of progress made towards the 2015 Paris Agreement, defines seven targets as part of a Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) by 2030, including climate positive approaches in food and water production and use. The summit supported the mobilization of USD 188 million for the UN’s Adaptation Fund for 2023, falling short of the USD 300 million annual target and significantly lower than the estimated USD 215 billion required per year for developing countries. (News #4)

COP28 saw further pledges and partnerships dedicated to transforming food systems, such as the Sharm-El-Sheikh support programme announced by CGIAR in collaboration with the COP28 UAE Presidency, the World Bank, and IFAD. This program aims to help countries unlock finance and support for farmers, food producers, small agribusiness and local communities. (News #5)

It’s time for concrete, transformative and inclusive action 

Despite these developments, COP28 was far from an unmitigated success linking food systems and climate action.

The Global Alliance for the Future of Food notes a lack of recognition for the imperative of transforming fossil-fuel dependent food-systems to cut global emissions, given that food systems account for over one-third of GHG emissions. News #6 reports that there has been little appetite for reducing methane emissions from cattle farming. For the Global Alliance for the Future of Food , the focus should now be on implementing transformational pathways that address both mitigation and adaptation together. This should include a shift to regenerative and agroecological food systems, and sustainable diets. (News #7)

UNICEF acknowledges necessary commitments but suggests that through the GGA and the Loss and Damage Fund, world leaders are addressing harmful symptoms of alarming temperature rises without sufficiently treating the root causes. (News #8)

On the finance front, UNDP states that COP negotiations in Dubai continued to fall short on providing sufficient finance for the most vulnerable nations to carry out climate action at the necessary level of ambition. The organisation calls for a surge in finance for mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, and reform of the international financial architecture. (News #9)

Publication #4 echoes these concerns, stressing that the arrival of food systems on the COP stage is long overdue. It calls for concrete, inclusive action that considers the needs and vulnerabilities of communities most affected by the food-climate nexus. The author notes the premature end on December 5 of negotiations on the Sharm-El-Shekh joint work on implementation of climate action on agriculture and food security (SSJW), with the next talks scheduled for June 2024. 

Monitoring Food Systems, a first step towards accountable transformation

In order to create an accountability mechanism for countries to implement their transformation pathways, the “State of food systems worldwide in the countdown to 2030” provides the first science-based monitoring to guide decision-makers. This 50-indicators framework allows countries to monitor the performance of their food systems, organising agriculture and food systems monitoring into five themes: diets, nutrition, and health; environment, natural resources, and production; livelihoods, poverty, and equity; governance; and resilience. The initiative involves about 60 collaborators and will track food systems annually, amending the framework as new indicators emerge. The first publication and policy report have just been released, and a dashboard is available to view the 50 indicators globally and by country. (News #10, Publications #5, #6, #8)

Finally, in the context of the “Food 2030: Green and Resilient Food Systems” conference held in Brussels 4-5 December, the European Commission showcased achievements in EU-funded food systems projects, explored future research and innovation directions, and discussed strategies for achieving sustainable and resilient food systems as part of the EU Green Deal goals. (News #11). During the event, the new report “Food 2030 Research and Innovation – Pathways for action 2.0 – R&I policy as a driver for sustainable, healthy, climate resilient and inclusive food systems” was launched, with Pathway #9 being related to “food systems in Africa”. (Publication #7)