The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN will play a leading role promoting the switch of food and agriculture practices from being a primary cause of the climate crisis to major solutions
Opinion: Food, agriculture and water will have their own pavilion and "theme-day" during COP28, the United Nation's annual climate negotiations beginning in Dubai from November 30. The centrepiece of the programme will outline how much food systems must change if humanity is to keep the rise in global temperatures under 1.5C.
Remarkably, this will be the first time that these sectors, which are so crucial to the health of people and the planet, have rated such a prominent focus in the near three-decade history of climate COPs.
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And it's even more astounding considering that land-use changes, agriculture and food production are in aggregate one of the main drivers of our climate and biodiversity crises; and that an estimated one-third of global food production is at risk from more droughts, floods, intense heat and other features of Earth's fast-changing climate.
One reason for the long delay is the UN itself. When it was founded in 1945, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) was set up as a specialist agency within it to tackle global hunger, nutrition and food security. It rapidly became a strong fiefdom headquartered in Rome, where it is still based.
Moreover, the strong influence major meat-producing countries and corporates have long exercised on the FAO has retarded progress, a Guardian investigation recently reported.
As COP28's host, the United Arab Emirates, a major oil and gas producer, strenuously articulates the need to cut all emissions in an attempt to shift some of the focus away from fossil fuels
Yet the evidence is now so compelling that big changes in food and agriculture practices would switch the sectors from a primary cause of the climate crisis to major solutions, the FAO will play a leading role promoting that transformation at COP28.
Some major food producers such as Nestlé, Unilever and Danone are already engaged in these agricultural and food system transformations. For example, they are investing heavily in regenerative farming practices that work much better with nature than conventional practices do.
They are also playing global leadership roles in two other big climate drives – the campaigns to phase out fossil fuels and to make real cuts in emissions rather than using carbon offsets, which increasingly suffer from credibility problems. For example, this week they joined 128 other major multinationals in signing a letter urging a phase out of fossil fuel from the We Mean Business climate coalition to the Heads of State due to attend COP28.
In contrast, the Global Dairy Platform, an industry body founded in 2006 by Andrew Ferrier when he was chief executive of Fonterra, lacks a similar sense of urgency about the dairy sector's responsibility to shift from a cause to a cure for our crises in nature and climate. In April, Miles Hurrell, Fonterra's current chief executive, became chair of the Global Dairy Platform.
The same is true for Federated Farmers. Andrew Hoggard, its recently retired national president, won election to our next parliament as an Act list MP, and a number of former regional presidents are joining the National Party caucus. Together, they will give agriculture’s status quo a greater voice in politics and parliament.
Our soon-to-be National-led government and climate minister will represent New Zealand at COP28. Given the meeting's much greater focus on agriculture’s role in humanity's climate and nature crises and the countries and producers involved in them – issues so vital to New Zealand – my Newsroom reports from COP28 will have a particular emphasis on them.
I'll also closely follow COP's long unresolved climate issues, notably phasing out fossil fuels and ramping up climate finance for developing countries.
The UAE is also planning for this COP to be far bigger than previous ones. It's hoping for 70,000 government, civil society and business delegates, compared with 45,000 at COP27 in Egypt last year
As COP28's host, the United Arab Emirates, a major oil and gas producer, strenuously articulates the need to cut all emissions in an attempt to shift some of the focus away from fossil fuels.
World leaders, politicians and diplomats need to recognise their "collective responsibility" to deliver a "comprehensive plan of action at COP28", that can ensure global climate goals are met, Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, President-designate of COP28, wrote recently to governments around the world on the UAE's structure and plans for COP. He's the UAE's controversial choice for the role as he is head of ADNOC, a UAE government-owned company.
"We need to collectively cut 22 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions in the next seven years to keep 1.5C within reach. That means working towards an energy system free of unabated fossil fuels by mid-century, with action on coal being a priority. We must do this while further ensuring energy security, affordability and accessibility to support broader development objectives," he wrote in his 11-page letter.
The term "unabated emissions" means those pumped into the atmosphere. The use of the term, though, particularly by someone from the fossil fuel industry, implies the potential of capturing some carbon emissions and storing them to fend off pressure to phase out fossil fuels.
Al-Jaber is a keen promoter of such technology. But its development remains slow and deeply disappointing, as the International Energy Agency reported in its latest World Energy Outlook released this week. It has yet to be proven to work at scale, as other analysts have noted. Thus, it struggles to attract investment compared with the surging investment in renewable energy.
The UAE is also planning for this COP to be far bigger than previous ones. It's hoping for 70,000 government, civil society and business delegates, compared with 45,000 at COP27 in Egypt last year and 40,000 at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021. The UAE's much-expanded programme for the business sector will account for most of the delegate-growth at COP28.
I also look forward to reporting on New Zealand companies that are sending delegates. For example, Fonterra will be represented by Hurrell, Andy Macfarlane, a board member, and Andrew Kempson, GM Global Climate Policy.
Every COP over the past three decades has wrestled with a daunting web of climate challenges and opportunities, with only modest progress at best.
But over the past year, many aspect of the co-crises of climate and nature have accelerated ominously. Yet, the political and social will to tackle these issues so critical to humanity and the planet are dwindling, not accelerating. Thus, for better or worse, this COP will be the most consequential yet.
