Selected Outcomes of COP28: Agriculture and Food Systems

INSIGHTi

Selected Outcomes of COP28: Agriculture and
Food Systems
January 3, 2024
The 2023 Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) and its subsidiary agreement, the Paris Agreement, took place in Dubai, United Arab
Emirates (UAE), in December 2023. Among other outcomes, COP28 concluded with a series of outcomes
at the nexus between climate change, food and agricultural production systems, and food and nutrition
security. Some have noted the significance of the outcomes regarding food and food systems.
Within the negotiations, Parties to COP28 agreed to several decisions that included language related to
food and food systems. Specifically, the adaptation section of the COP28 decision on the outcome of the
first global stocktake states the need for “implementation of integrated, multi-sectoral solutions, such as
land use management, sustainable agriculture, resilient food systems,” and “climate-resilient food and
agricultural production and supply and distribution of food, as well as increasing sustainable and
regenerative production and equitable access to adequate food and nutrition for all” (paragraphs 43-65).
The COP28 decision on the Paris Agreement’s global goal on adaptation sets a target for “attaining
climate-resilient food and agricultural production and supply and distribution of food, as well as
increasing sustainable and regenerative production and equitable access to adequate food and nutrition for
all.”
Outside of the negotiations, the United States was 1 of nearly 160 countries endorsing the COP28 UAE
Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action. Under the
declaration, signatory nations explicitly recognized that “unprecedented adverse climate impacts are
increasingly threatening the resilience of agriculture and food systems as well as the ability of many,
especially the most vulnerable, to produce and access food in the face of mounting hunger, malnutrition,
and economic stresses.” They also affirmed that “agriculture and food systems must urgently adapt and
transform in order to respond to the imperatives of climate change,” among other acknowledgments. The
declaration commits nations as Parties to the Paris Agreement “to integrate agriculture and food systems
into National Adaptation Plans, Nationally Determined Contributions, Long-term Strategies, National
Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, and other related strategies” under the agreement, before the
convening of COP30 in 2025.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched its “global roadmap” to
transform agrifood systems “through accelerated climate actions” to support food security and nutrition
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before COP30 convenes in 2025. Other food system-related outcomes of COP28 included the launch of
an Alliance of Champions for Food Systems Transformation (involving Brazil, Cambodia, Norway,
Rwanda, and Sierra Leone) aimed at transforming national food systems “to deliver universal access to
affordable, nutritious and sustainable diets, aiming to accelerate major progress this decade.” The United
Nations Climate Change High-Level Champions “Call to Action,” signed by over 200 non-state actors,
calls for “transformation of food systems for people, nature and climate” and setting “time-bound,
aligned, holistic, and global targets by COP29 [in 2024] at the latest, and actionable, evidence-based,
locally appropriate food systems transition pathways.” COP28 also included financial commitments and
support for sustainable food systems from some governments and private foundations.
Despite these actions, some stakeholders raised concerns at the conclusion of COP28 that some countries
have yet to initiate specific actions in order to realize the above stated commitments as well as whether
there is sufficient financial support to fund such actions, among other related concerns. Some also
expressed concern that the COP28 first global stocktake did not include anticipated mitigation measures
that were included in earlier draft versions.
Some also note that other food-related action items did not proceed as anticipated—specifically, the
Sharm el-Sheikh Joint Work on Implementation on Agriculture and Food Security (SSJW). Adopted at
COP27, SSJW builds on joint work on agriculture from COP23 in 2017 and calls for efforts to support the
outcomes and activities related to agriculture as well as efforts to identify future workshop topics
organized by UNFCCC. More than 40 SSJW submissions were sent into the UNFCCC Secretariat,
including by the United States. However, COP28 concluded with no SSJW decision on how to implement
the COP27 commitments. Negotiations are expected to resume in 2024.

Author Information

Renée Johnson

Specialist in Agricultural Policy




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