Engaging the Business Community at COP29 – Agri-Food Systems

Agri-food systems solutions are climate solutions 

Agri-food systems are wholly important for providing food security to a growing global population. The challenges facing them grow as biodiversity loss and climate change accelerates, but at the same time they are also a significant contributor to these issues.  

At UN Biodiversity COP16, which concludes in Cali today (1 November), the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) emphasised the importance of sustainable management of biodiversity in agriculture and food systems when working towards the targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). 

Director Kaveh Zahedi, Director of FAO’s Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment highlights “agri-food systems solutions are absolutely central to facing the big challenges related to climate, biodiversity and land management. They need to be prioritised in multilateral environmental agreements, receive more resources in both qualitative and quantitative terms, and become fully integrated into national planning processes and strategies.” 

Further, FAO conveys a key message that scaling up agri-food system solutions, through enabling policies, innovation and technologies, is fundamental to reach smallholder farmers and producers.  

Leveraging the private sector for agri-food systems transformation 

Private sector investments and private-public partnerships are an important element needed to transform agrifood systems. The 2024 Breakthrough Agenda Report on Agriculture underscores the criticality of international collaboration to ensuring key technologies for reducing emissions from the agriculture sector are deployed at scale. Its mission to make ‘climate-resilient, sustainable agriculture the most attractive and widely adopted option by farmers everywhere by 2030’ notes that actions are more effective and sustainable when private sector is engaged throughout the process.   

One key priority action is increasing international climate finance and directing it towards unlocking the potential of sustainable agricultural technologies. Within this, it touches upon the role of multilateral development banks and donor countries incentivising: the development and scaling of carbon markets, impact financing with the private sector, and establishing blended finance mechanisms that combine public and private investments. For example, this can be achievable through providing concessional loans and grants for technologies that are particularly appropriate for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where there are large opportunities for productivity improvement as well as reducing emissions, but upfront costs are a barrier to action.  

Additionally, the Breakthrough Agenda sets another priority area for international efforts to work towards enabling the private sector to scale up solutions through global markets. 

COP29 and the Climate Action Innovation Zone 

As COP29 lies just 10 days away, the FAO will further showcase the unique role of agriculture and food systems in the fight against climate change through implementing solutions that lower environmental impact, build resilience, support adaptation, reduce GHG emissions and increase carbon sequestration, whilst ensuring food security.   

On 19 November, Food, Agriculture and Water Day, the COP29 Presidency and FAO will launch the joint Baku Harmoniya Climate Initiative for Farmers. Its focus is to: clarify the landscape of initiatives and offer a platform for better collaboration and exchange of knowledge and experiences; make investments in agri-food systems transformation from both private and public sectors more attractive, while building on strong collaborations with Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and Agricultural Public Development Banks (PDBs); and support the development of climate-resilient villages and rural communities, with a particular focus on women and young fishers/farmers, for adaptation action in the food, agriculture and water sectors.

At the Climate Action Innovation Zone on 15 November, the Agri-Food Systems Summit during COP29 will address the urgent need for alignment in strategies, commitments and transformation roadmaps across the agricultural sector, as well as spotlighting the innovative technologies that will define the leaders of tomorrow.  

Chief Sustainability Officer for PepsiCo, Jim Andrews, will provide a private sector voice on the panel ‘Financing Climate Action through Agriculture and Food Systems’. Moderated by Emeline Fellus, Senior Director (Agriculture & Food) at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the session will address both the quantity and quality of finance; directing finance to agri-food systems and ensuring this finance effectively reaches agricultural communities. Kaveh Zahedi and Harry Boyd-Carpenter, Managing Director (Climate Strategy and Delivery) at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will also join the discussion, exploring the innovative solutions that could close the finance gap and the financing mechanisms that exist to support agribusinesses in transitioning to lower-carbon and climate-resilient models. 

For the full agenda and to find out more: https://events.climateaction.org/innovation-zone/