We cannot afford another lost year for food and climate action

ABSTRACT

In recent years, recognition has grown of the significant role that food systems play in driving climate change, constituting about one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, while also playing a key role in sequestering carbon and adapting to climate changes. The COP28 climate conference signaled a pivotal shift, spotlighting food and agriculture in discourse. However, despite pledges and declarations, concrete plans and targets to address emissions from food chains remain elusive. Urgent action is imperative to transform food systems and avert surpassing critical warming thresholds.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate action
• food
• agriculture
• agroecology
• biodiversity
• farming

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the Agroecology Coalition and the Global Alliance for the Future of Food and Robbie Blake and Nicole Pita of the International Panel of Experts on Sustinable Food Systems.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Funding

This paper received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. More information on IPES-Food’s core funding can be found at https://ipes-food.org/about/.

Funding

This paper received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. More information on IPES-Food’s core funding can be found at https://ipes-food.org/about/.

Additional information

Funding

This paper received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. More information on IPES-Food’s core funding can be found at https://ipes-food.org/about/.

Notes on contributors

Emile Frison

Emile Frison is a member and founder of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food), a senior advisor to the Agroecology Coalition, and an expert on conservation and agricultural biodiversity who has headed global research-for-development organization Bioversity International for 10 years, and held top positions at several global research institutes. A Belgian national, Emile obtained a masters in Agricultural Sciences from the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium and a PhD in Agricultural Science from the University of Gembloux in Belgium.