A couple weeks ago, the world had its eye on COP27. This famed annual conference brings together world leaders to decide on the actions needed to protect our planet and tackle climate change. If the brief sounds exciting, the outcomes of the conference have left many with a bitter aftertaste as they hopped on their planes back home. While there were some successes, such as the breakthrough agreement to financially support vulnerable countries that are hit the hardest by climate disasters, the overall sentiment seemed to be that COP27 could be described as failure on the 1.5C target of the Paris.
That being said, there was a new topic discussed at COP27. Food. . After all, the sector on its own represents a third of worldwide GHG emissions, uses over 50% of our land and 70% of our freshwater- it seems that the industry as a whole deserved its seat at the big table of the environmental issues plaguing the world.
Food is a peculiar sector. Unlike transport, fossil fuel or fashion, we need to eat, and therefore produce food. Which has made it a great business opportunity as, no matter what, people will eat. Demand is endless and demand is growing. As we just celebrated our 8 billionth baby being born in November 2022, the question of food security and accessibility continues to loom over our heads.
Food Fumes
When people look at their dinner plate, the first thing that comes to mind is not its carbon footprint. Yet the reality is that agriculture is the second highest emitting industry after the energy sector. In 2015, it was estimated that agriculture and land use/land-use change activities represented 71% of the sector’s total worldwide emissions. The remaining 29% from supply chain activities: retail, transport, consumption, fuel production, waste management, industrial processes and packaging.
Many governments are failing to see (or regulate?) how the food industry plays a colossal part in achieving the GHG emission reduction we need to meet the 1.5°C goal set by the Paris agreement. Out of the 54 countries which have included emissions targets in the NDCs, only 16 of them had included targets specific to agriculture. However, although this number remains insufficient to effectively contribute to achieving net zero, it is worth noting it is an improvement from 2021, over 90% of failed to include agriculture in their NDC.
One-sided response
With an entire dedicated day and over 200 events organised to discuss the topic, food was undeniably on the menu at COP27. This led to the launch of several initiatives including the Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation (FAST) Initiative, which aims to tackle financial contribution inequalities to support adapting and maintaining 1.5°C degree programmes.
COP27 also saw the 4 year renewal of the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture in which all parties pledged to work towards the “implementation of climate action on agriculture and food security”.
Several other programmes were launched with a broadly similar goal: addressing the production side of food to mitigate its climate impact and vulnerability. Although necessary, this approach has been criticised as unilateral and not sufficient to fully utilise food to tackle environmental and social issues.
The demand side of our food system, including the implementation of sustainable and nutritious diets and tackling food loss and waste, is still largely underrepresented in the solutions put forward to build a more resilient approach. At the start of the second week, 29 organisations including WWF and the Environmental Defense Fund, Food and Land Use Coalition called for negotiators of the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture to have a more inclusive ‘food system’ language. To achieve 1.5°C, governments need to have a holistic approach that will go beyond solutions to mitigate the environmental and societal impact of food production. It also needs to grant all people with enough diverse and healthy foods along with addressing loss and waste, which is still the case for 40% of all food produced globally.
By failing to do so, governments are supporting a system where supply is the only area of focus, with the objective to continue producing more. Food inequalities need to be addressed from a nutritional perspective with a significant shift towards more nutritious and healthier diets if we are to meet the Paris agreement.
With COP15 starting today, governments will seek to agree to a new set of goals for nature over the next decade. Food can play a defining role in the way we safeguard our biodiversity and, within a virtuous cycle, ensure we are able to provide diverse, nutritious and sustainable diets for all. It is crucial that this also takes a prominent place in the conversations to be had in the next days that will define the future of our planet.
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