The food revolution is building, now we need clear standards to guide momentum

The next great transition following ‘energy’ is food, and key players are gathering around a shared vision for a net-zero food system – but to prevent misguided implementation, we need the rules to be set out as a priority.

COP28 last year was a landmark moment for food and agriculture. The COP28 UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Action, was launched, which has now been endorsed by 160 countries.

At COP29 Azerbaijan’s Food, Agriculture & Water Day, today in Baku, a year later, it was announced that 300 key food system actors have rallied behind the Food Systems Call to Action - a shared vision and set of priority actions across production, consumption, protecting & restoring nature and food loss & waste.  

The critical ingredient for action on climate and nature is growing – the Big Mo – ‘momentum.'

However, to prevent false starts and compromising consumer trust, now is a critical moment to define what ambitious action in the food sector looks like.

• Addressing the cow in the room: Often, food brands are presenting various measures with limited proven effectiveness as core to their climate target achievement. For example, feed additives and vaccines are presented as measures to reduce methane emissions from livestock. The real effective measure, reducing livestock numbers, is almost never mentioned in commitments.

• Reductions, not only removals: While soil sequestration is vital for 1.5°C, companies have an overreliance on quasi-scientific, uncertain ‘soil carbon sequestration’ practices, such as erroneously using CO2 sequestration to counterbalance methane emissions.

• Regenerative agriculture is at risk of becoming a buzzword: Our analysis on regenerative agriculture in corporate climate strategies shows that the term is being misused by food brands – diluting its meaning. Many brands mention regenerative agriculture in their climate strategies, but do not define it. In the absence of an agreed definition, the term is used more as a buzzword than as an important emission reduction strategy.

• Current regenerative agriculture practices represent incrementalism, not systems change: Although it is crucial and commendable that companies are pursuing practices that help sustain and enhance soil health, biodiversity and water usage, deep analysis of key players in the agrifood sector has found scant signs of commitments to deep emission reduction measures.

Although it is essential and encouraging that businesses have recognised the immense opportunity to reshape our food system for people and planet, to deliver on the timelines set out by science - standard-setters must now play a vital role.

The Science Based Targets initiative’s Forest, Land and Agriculture (FLAG) Guidance enables businesses in land-intensive sectors to set science-based targets that include land-based emissions reductions and removals. However, SBTi should go further by also calling for separate removal and reduction targets, ideally with a limit for removals. Additionally, and critically, a net-zero food system requires reduced livestock numbers. It’s time for the community to address the cow in the room.    

Read our report on regenerative agriculture: "Navigating regenerative agriculture in corporate climate strategies"