The “lost opportunity” of agrifood at COP30

Sustainable and resilient agrifood systems are essential for achieving the Paris Agreement targets on climate change while ensuring food security and nutrition for present and future generations. This was the overarching message delivered by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. During the 10-21 November conference, FAO emphasized that science-based agrifood solutions can play a pivotal role in reducing emissions, enhancing carbon sequestration, restoring ecosystems, and strengthening resilience. “From restoration of degraded agricultural lands to resilient crops and sustainable aquaculture, and livestock, we have the solutions that deliver across sectors,” FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said ahead of the conference.

The biggest challenge, according to FAO, is finance.

Despite an increase in critical agrifood investments, forestry, livestock, fisheries, and crop production together received just 4 percent of total climate-related development finance. For a sector that can deliver a third of global emission reductions, this gap is not only unequal – “it is a lost opportunity,” according to Qu, who warned that overlooking agrifood systems means leaving one of the most effective pathways to low-emission growth untapped. Also only 30 countries committed to reduce significantly food-waste. Source: FAO

For more information on COP30 commitments with agrifood, you can write here.