Food systems – what we eat; how we grow, ship and cook it; and how we dispose of it (and sometimes waste it) – are responsible for approx a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. But for the better part of three decades, the final agreements emerging from the UN’s annual climate summit have left out the impact that food systems have on our climate.
That changed in Dubai this year. The conference was opened with a statement on sustainable agriculture signed by more than 130 countries. For the first time ever, it displayed a whole day devoted to food and agriculture and seen a food systems road map outlined by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Perhaps the most striking is the final agreement document unveiled at the end of the conference recognized sustainable agriculture as part of the appropriate response to climate change.
The increased focus on food didn’t just draw experts—it also attracted Big Ag lobbyists eager to shape outcomes, and the final language didn’t go as far as many sustainability advocates would have liked. But food undeniably took a more prominent place at the summit than it had in previous years.
“It’s really exciting that food is finally on the table. Now we have this ability to talk about food systems as a solution to the climate crisis in a way we’ve never had the chance before,” says Danielle Nierenberg, president of Food tanka non-profit think tank.
The food system talks at the climate summit kicked off with a bang as the Cop28 Presidency announced the Cop28 UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agricultural, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action, or the statement for short. Although the declaration is not legally binding, the more than 150 countries that signed by the end of the conference are essentially announcing their intentions to integrate food and agriculture into their climate plans.
“Countries must put food systems and agriculture at the heart of their climate ambitions, both addressing global emissions and protecting the lives and livelihoods of farmers who live on the front lines of climate change,” said Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, the UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment and the Cop28 food systems lead.
Next, the FAO unveiled its new roadmap intended to outline the path needed to bring the world’s food production into line with global climate goals, in something of a parallel to the road map the International Energy Agency laid out for the energy transition in 2021. The FAO pathway emphasizes reducing methane emissions from livestock by 25% and halving food waste emissions by 2030, and recommends growing a more biodiverse range of crops than the world currently relies on.
Besides the big announcements, the sense on the ground was that food was a bigger deal than ever. As a regular Cop attendee since Cop16 in Cancun, Mexico, in 2010, Nierenberg said she’s seen the conversation about food shift significantly. She was particularly encouraged this year to feel that there was more interest in food from those working outside the sector. “I think we’ve broken down some silos. We weren’t just preaching to the choir,” she said.
Nierenberg said she walked away “encouraged” by the increased attention to food systems at the conference, and she appreciated that food systems were mentioned in the final agreement hammered out at the conference. But she also wishes the language in the final document had gone further.
Yvette Cabrera, a food waste expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, did too. “One thing that many food systems advocates and many of the countries behind the declaration wanted to see was some of the text and commitments in the declaration lifted in the final global stocktaking language,” she said.
It did not happen. Instead, the final agreement sprinkled small mentions of food systems throughout, and largely focused food systems discussions in the section on adaptation, rather than mitigation. While adaptation is “very important because we absolutely need to figure out what our future food system looks like, and be ready for it,” Cabrera said, “We also need to take steps to mitigate the emissions that are happening now.”
Others put it more strongly. “The glaring omission of food system transformation and agricultural emissions in the final text is a thin betrayal of urgency… We cannot afford another lost year for food and climate action,” said Emile Frison, an expert representing the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES Food).
The difference in attendees’ summaries highlights the particular tightrope that seems to always accompany discussions of Cop – the line between trying to acknowledge progress that has been made, while also being realistic about how far there is still to go.
One barrier to meaningful progress that caused a buzz this year was the overrepresentation of corporate interests at the conference. Much like the fossil fuel lobbyists who argue that the world cannot afford to do away with oil and gas if we want energy security, Big Ag lobbyists defend a current status quo that actively heats the planet in the name of food security.
Lobbyists were out in force at the summit in Dubai. Big meat and dairy lobbyists have arrived record numbers, with three times more agribusiness representatives present this year than last year. Among their ranks were representatives of meat supplier JBS, who al connected to deforestation in the Amazon; pesticide company Bayer, against the background of lawsuits claims that its herbicide Roundup causes cancer; and fertilizer giant Nutrien, which make synthetic fertilizers from fossil fuels.
Amid a series of events on financing the regenerative agriculture transition and reducing food waste, there were also events sponsored by the International Dairy Federation and the North American Meat Institute with titles such as How animal source foods feed the world in times of climate change.
“They’re trying to convince people that, whether it’s fertilizer or livestock, they offer more solutions than failures or obstacles,” said Nierenberg of agribusiness lobbyists. “That’s what the meat institute has done to a large extent – to try to change the narrative that livestock is a major contributor to climate change, even though they are responsible for at least 14% of emissions.”
While sustainable food system experts argue that there is an “urgent need for reforms that limit corporate influence at UN climate meetings”, many still came away encouraged by the direction Cop is taking when it comes to conversations about food.
Nierenberg noted that the FAO has already announced plans to build on its roadmap over the next two years, culminating in Cop30 in Brazil, which she said “people are looking at as the place where we will make significant progress on how food – and agricultural systems were talked about, and which end up in the final global stocktaking document”.
Cabrera hopes that the FAO roadmap, while not binding, can give countries an idea of how to move forward to integrate food systems into their climate goals. She also hopes that it can unlock more funding for food sector-based solutions, which are currently receiving only 3% of public climate finance.
For all the progress still to be made, “Honestly, I think it’s been a success,” Cabrera said. “I walk away feeling motivated about the final text, and also just the pure energy around food systems at Cop this year.”
