COP28 - the start of an important conversation about food’s role in climate change

Attending COP28 was a unique experience. This year was marked by the significant attention given to food and agriculture, more than has ever been seen at a COP in previous years. COP28 introduced its first thematic day dedicated to food and agriculture, emphasising their role in climate change, along with the introduction of the Agri-food Systems Summit in the Innovation Zone.
This marked a step forward, particularly with the UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture - signed by 158 nations. However it is worth noting that the declaration is neither legally binding nor contains an actionable roadmap for the countries to follow. Equally concerning is that while the final Global Stocktake does address food to some extent, there is a much greater focus on adaptation than mitigation - with the language revolving mostly around "resilience" and "safe-guarding" rather than actual emissions reductions.

This is troubling because - as we heard repeated consistently throughout the conference - a third of global emissions can be attributed to the food system. Despite this, only 2% of climate finance is directed towards agri-food. Even less of this finance - 0.03% - ends up in the hands of smallholder farmers. The voices of these crucial players in mitigation and adaptation were notably muted at COP28 - with big agri-business and innovation taking centre stage of many food related discussions. Much of the conversation at the COP28 Agri-food Systems Summit was dominated by sponsors like PepsiCo, Syngenta or Nestle.

There was also a strong emphasis on the role of innovation within the food system to address climate change, and we were pleased to see the announcement of the joint $17 billion fund from the US and UAE for sustainable innovation. This was the capacity in which LettUs Grow were attending, and we are grateful for the invites from both the Association for Vertical Farming for bringing us into their roundtable at the Agri-food Systems Summit, and the Green Group’s invite to attend the Final Demo Day of their Accelerator. It was a joy to see such brilliant food system start-ups from around the globe showcasing their innovations.

Another win for established food system innovators, Intelligent Growth Solutions, was announced at COP28. They have been chosen to deliver the vertical farming technology for game-changing 900,000 square foot "GigaFarm", sited in Dubai’s Food Tech Valley. The cutting-edge waste-to-value farm will be able to grow two billion plants annually and recycle over 50,000 tonnes of food waste. Black soldier fly larvae will recycle food waste on-site, producing organic compost for use in conventional agricultural methods, animal feed to replace unsustainable fish meal and soy oil, and water for use in the vertical farming towers as byproducts. Additionally, the on-site technologies will create organic biodegradable polymers that are intended to gradually release water and nutrients to crops in arid locations, as well as recover up to 90% of ammonia sulphate from wastewater for use in plant fertilisers.

Anyone who knows LettUs Grow knows we think agri-food innovations have a big role to play in both how we mitigate and adapt to climate change. However innovations are not the be all and end all by any means! We had concerns about the degree to which COP28 appeared to lean on innovation - it had a “silver bullet” quality to it. As a planet, we need to make big changes if we’re to keep within 1.5c. Innovations can help soften the blow and make the transition easier to swallow, however they are not an excuse for avoiding these big changes and continuing with business as usual thinking.

The role of livestock in sustainable agriculture was one such elephant (or cow) in the room of many discussions. Livestock farming alone is responsible for roughly a third of methane emissions. The success of COP28’s Global Methane Pledge, which intends to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030, gained 150 signatories and requires a serious reduction in livestock related methane. However what that looks like for livestock was hotly debated. There was a notable presence from advocates for increasing the proportion of plant-based and cultivated proteins, while at the same time over 100 representatives from the meat and dairy industry attended with country delegations.

Although not directly related to the food system, we can hardly write a piece about COP28 without talking about fossil fuels. The event widely acknowledged the need to transition away from fossil fuels - with a whole pavillion in the Green Zone dedicated to the energy transition, a day in the Innovation Zone dedicated to the topic, and many topics around it in the Blue Zone. However some of the statements coming from president Sultan al-Jaber about fossil fuels were deeply demoralising - such as the claim that there is 'no science' behind demands for phase-out of fossil fuels. Despite this, an agreement was reached for "transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science". Nearly all nations committed to this "transition away from fossil fuels," which are the primary cause of climate change. In the 28 years that international climate talks have taken place, this accord represents the first of its kind. This is huge for the CEA sector, whose profitability and sustainability are greatly dependent on the sources with the energy mix. A study from one of our farms found that switching from a standard non-renewable UK energy tariff to renewables reduced the carbon emissions associated with produce by 80%, making local aeroponic production less carbon intensive than importing from Europe. Because of this, LettUs Grow have been big advocates for renewables integration for many years, partnering with Octopus Energy in 2021 and collaboratively creating a guide to energy use in CEA for new entrants into the industry along with the UKUAT and District Eating.

It’s not just fossil fuels that were highlighted as needing a big shake-up. The final agreement advocates for the “implementation of integrated, multi-sectoral solutions, such as land-use management, sustainable agriculture, resilient food systems, nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based approaches, and protecting, conserving and restoring nature and ecosystems, including forests, mountains and other terrestrial and marine and coastal ecosystems.” We’re pleased to see the intersectionality of climate change finally being highlighted and are hopeful this is the start of more and more nuanced conversations about the food system’s role in climate change.

Our time at COP28 underscored the nuanced role that agri-food innovators play in shaping more climate conscious food systems. It was an honour to be able to be a part of a COP that will likely go down in history as the first to really bring food to the table. The insights from the experience only served to reinforce the urgency of addressing food systems in the global climate agenda. While the conference by no means delivered everything we need for food systems transformation, it was more than we had hoped for and served as a good start to the conversation on a global stage.

COP28 - the start of an important conversation about food’s role in climate change

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