FAIRR at COP29

This year’s annual Conference of the Parties (COP29) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan from 11-22 November 2024.  The UN summit remains the world’s biggest collective effort to tackle the impacts of climate change and achieve a net-zero transition in line with Paris Agreement targets.   

The impact of intensive animal agriculture is underrepresented in existing climate change engagement efforts, despite its critical role in the global transition to net zero. Even if fossil fuel emissions were stopped, emissions from the global food system alone could raise global temperatures by more than 1.5°C.   

As highlighted in FAIRR’s US$18 trillion investor letter, a clear global roadmap is needed to ensure that the agri-food system can deliver food security while meeting climate change and nature goals. Stronger action on food and land-use systems can keep the 1.5°C-goal in sight because it is the only sector with the capacity to sequester emissions (through afforestation or agroforestry, for example) and is, therefore, vital to the net-zero goal.    

Many countries are still failing to establish comprehensive strategies and targets for the agriculture sector within their NDCs. Food and agriculture featured squarely on the agenda last year – it was the focus of a record +400 events held at COP28. COP29 provides a chance to scale up action on food within national climate strategies and outside formal negotiations, with the Food Systems Call to Action, signed by many businesses last year in Dubai, still collecting signatories. 

2050 roadmap for agri-food systems  

FAIRR investors members have called for a clear roadmap for achieving food security and nature goals without breaching the 1.5°C threshold, a call backed by Ban Ki Moon, Mary Robinson, Christiana Figueres, and the Net-Zero Asset Owners Alliance in 2022. 

While the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) global and regional roadmaps – planned for launch at COP29 this year - could be a catalyst for such action, it is not yet clear whether the global roadmap will align with the original proposals highlighted in FAIRR’s investor-backed letter.  

The global roadmap will be an expansion of the FAO’s Roadmap In-Brief document, released last December, which focused on climate change and food security, but unfortunately, did not give nature equal place with these two goals.  

It is hoped that the upcoming reports released at COP29 will: 

• Integrate a ‘One Health’ approach; 

• Fully incorporate global nature goals, including those from the Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forests and Land Use; and  

• Provide clarity on the role that protein diversification plays in addressing climate change, biodiversity loss and hunger. 

Read this Insights piece to understand these issues in more detail. 

Progress on the UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture  

Last year’s COP was significant, with 159 heads of state signing the UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Action. It included a commitment to better integrate agri-food emissions into nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and other national plans.   

Countries are expected to update their NDCs early next year in time for COP30. FAIRR has been drawing attention to this issue since 2021, when it released an investor statement backed by members with US$12 trillion in assets. 

At COP29, we will understand how many countries have strengthened this aspect of their NDCs, including any commitments made to repurpose harmful agricultural subsidies, another area of focus for FAIRR's investor members.  

New commitments on climate finance, including agriculture   

Climate change-related loss and damage is likely to receive particular attention. The first global fund to support countries particularly vulnerable to climate change was established at COP27. Many of the costs and associated impacts will fall on the agri-food sector, as FAIRR’S Climate Risk Tool highlights, and early action is critical to avoid incurring costs. 

Countries are expected to agree a new climate finance goal, known as the New Collective Quantified Goal, to channel funds to developing countries that address climate-change related loss and damage. Crucially for investors, these negotiations may set the scope for increased public agricultural investment. With the World Bank Group recently committing to doubling its agriculture financing commitments to US$9 billion annually by 2030, it will be interesting to track where this new finance goes, and see if sustainable agri-food finance is scaled up.  

The ongoing negotiations under the Sharm El-Sheikh Joint Work on Implementation of Climate Action on Agriculture and Food Security will also reflect government ambition levels. It will be good to see if the focus of these negotiations is expanded to focus on the whole food system – a critical aspect of tackling supply and demand issues.   

FAIRR’s investor network of over 400+ members, representing more than US$75 trillion assets under management, will aim to highlight the material financial risks related to intensive animal agriculture in discussions at COP29. FAIRR convenes and drives conversations between investors and other stakeholders, including policymakers and governments, on driving ambitious action on food and agriculture, in line with the 1.5°C-goals agreed in the Paris Agreement.  

For more information on the events FAIRR will be hosting and participating in, please see our COP29 event page.