Policy Backgrounders

Global Food Systems: COP28 Puts the Food Issue on the Table

December 20, 2023

Nearly 200 countries met in Dubai from November 30-December 12 at the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP 28) to discuss the United Nations Framework Agreement on Climate Change (also known as the Paris Agreement). According to the UN, food systems – what people eat; how food is grown, shipped, and cooked; and how it is disposed – are responsible for more than a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. However, for nearly thirty years, food systems have been left out of the final agreements that emerge from the yearly climate summits. COP 28 marks the first in which food is on the table, with the conference holding an entire day to discussions on the impact of food and agriculture on climate change.

• In signing the Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action, 158 countries (including the US) acknowledged that any path to fully achieving the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement must include agriculture and food systems.
• The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s Global Roadmap for Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) without Breaching the 1.5°C Threshold outlines a comprehensive strategy for the next three years encompassing 120 actions across 10 distinct focus areas. The roadmap challenges the narrative that increasing global food production is synonymous with higher emissions and further environmental degradation. (SDG 2 is “Zero Hunger.”)                     
• More than 25 leading agriculture and food stakeholders at COP 28 joined forces to collectively scale regenerative agriculture through the COP 28 Action Agenda on Regenerative Landscapes. Regenerative landscapes prioritize the health of ecosystem functions while also supporting farmers’ empowerment and livelihoods.