How are we going to provide the required nutrition to Eight Billion human beings?
The answer to this question was the focus of day seven at CoP 27 “Adaptation and Agriculture” thematic day. The series of sessions and initiatives shed light on pathways forward on adaptation and climate-resilient agriculture.

European Investment Fund supports €2.5 billion of climate action investment with five venture capital, private equity, and infrastructure fund partners.

• The EIF is committing €250 million with five equity funds to mobilize €2.5 billion of climate action and environmental sustainability investment across Europe: Growth Blue Fund I, PureTerra Ventures, Zintinus Fund I, SUMA Capital Climate Impact Fund III, and Eiffel Transition Infrastructure Fund. The funds are to be directed to investment in food innovation, renewable energy, energy efficiency, the circular economy, the blue economy, and water. Four of the five agreements (Growth Blue Fund I, PureTerra Ventures, SUMA Capital Climate Impact Fund III, and Eiffel Transition Infrastructure Fund) are supported by the Invest EU program. Invest EU brings together EU financial tools to support investment by making project financing simpler, more efficient, and more flexible.

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_22_6802

• Four initiatives – Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation (FAST), Climate Responses for Sustaining Peace (CRSP), Decent Life for a Climate Resilient Africa, and Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition (I-CAN) – will urgently address the transformation of agrifood systems, the integration of climate responses to peace and security, the improvement of the quality of life of the most vulnerable in Africa by 2030, and delivery of healthy diets respectively.
• COP27 President H.E. Mr. Sameh Shoukry said: “As we reach a milestone in human development, we must ensure that our food systems are equipped to provide communities around the world with food that is produced in an inclusive, responsible, and sustainable way. With 43 million people suffering from hunger each year, this is a wake-up call for implementation. Initiatives such as FAST are critical in today’s world, where geopolitical shifts and extreme weather events can cause massive disruption to food supply chains that hurt the world’s poorest and exacerbate hunger and malnutrition.”

Over the course of the day, several sessions and new initiatives highlighted the way forward on adaptation and climate-resilient agriculture. These included:

• Food Security and Climate Change focused on the impact of climate change on hunger and malnutrition and how climate change adaptation could end hunger and malnutrition.
• How to avert, minimize, and address Loss and Damage to infrastructure which discussed the importance of partnerships between businesses and societies to invest in AI and technological early warning systems.
• Shaping The Way Forward for Adaptation where ministers explored specific measures needed to make progress on adaptation with regards and the development of comprehensive monitoring systems to advance climate change adaptation.
• Adaptation Innovations and Technologies which looked at the ways in which governments, businesses, and institutions can scale up the technology to support climate change adaptation.

Source https://cop27.eg/#/news/228/Adaptation%20and%20Agriculture%20

COP27 Egypt Presidency and FAO Launch FAST Initiative to Transform Agrifood Systems and Improve Food Security
Egypt’s COP27 Presidency and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched the Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation or FAST, at COP27 today. The new initiative will increase climate finance contributions for agriculture and food systems to support the most vulnerable communities.

FAST will reimagine agrifood systems to deliver triple wins for people, climate action, and nature. It will be supported by countries through its multi-stakeholder partnerships that will ensure food systems are reinforced through climate policies that contribute to concrete actions in support of adaptation and maintain a 1.5-degree pathway for food and economic security. FAST will focus on three priorities for action:

1. Access to Finance: Enhancing countries’ capacities to identify and increase access to climate finance and investment.
2. Knowledge and Capacity: Providing the necessary analyses, developing voluntary guidelines, and supporting capacity development
3. Policy Support and Dialogue: Ensuring agrifood systems are fully embedded in climate change policies, such as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), National Adaptation Plans (NAP), or Long-term Low Emissions and Development Strategies (LT-LEDS). Ad-hoc technical advisory groups for ensuring responsiveness and efficiency, and for the timely delivery of mutually agreed high-quality outputs.

Relevant to the topic:
COP27 President H.E. Sameh Shoukry Stated: “The impact of climate change is disproportionately impacting vulnerable communities around the world. To address this imbalance, we need to develop sustainable farming and food systems and meet the urgent needs of food-importing developing countries. Through the FAST initiative, we will be mobilizing the world to unlock finance flows to increase climate resilience and implement urgently needed transformation across agrifood systems.”

Deputy Director General FAO Maria Helena Semedo commented that: “Bold transformative actions are needed to boost Agrifood system transformation, support countries, and ensure that resources reach food producers across the value chain.”

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Mr. Simon Stiell said: “We need to undertake a thorough overhaul of our food systems, which is another way of saying our relationship with the natural world. There is only one way to achieve this. It can be summarized in one single world: implementation.”

Minister of State, Department for Food, Rural Affairs and Environment, United Kingdom, H.E. Lord Benyon said: “The challenges we continue to face are vast. The only way we can overcome them is through collaboration and innovation. We are committed to taking this forward: through the Policy Dialogue, Agriculture Breakthrough, and in collaboration with the new FAST initiative. We fully support the FAST initiative, spotlighting access to finance, capacity strengthening, and policy dialogue. I’m sure that it will bring a major push on food and agricultural transformation”

The FAO, in collaboration with other UN agencies, will play the role of a neutral facilitator, providing objectivity, independence, and credibility that are prerequisites for the success of the initiative. A set of guiding principles for implementation aims to ensure the effective delivery of agreed outputs, with initial principles identified through a series of multi-stakeholder consultations and in partnership with the COP27 Presidency High-Level Champions under the Marrakech Partnership.

Source https://cop27.eg/#/news/227/COP27%20Egypt%20Presidency%20and%20FAO

UAE net zero plan implies deeper emissions cut
The UAE has laid out a pathway to achieving net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 that implies an even deeper reduction in emissions by 2030 than envisaged under the updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) released in September. The update envisioned a 31pc reduction in the country’s GHG emissions by 2030, versus a 2016 baseline, up from a targeted 23pc cut in the country’s original NDC.

In volume terms, this would have involved a reduction in emissions of 93.3mn t of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) to 207.7mn t of CO2e versus the UAE’s “business as usual” forecast, which anticipated emissions of 301mn t of CO2e in 2030 assuming a “moderate annual economic growth rate based on historical trends.”

Based on the new net zero roadmaps presented at the Cop 27, the UAE climate change and environment ministry stated that the UAE is aiming to reduce emissions by 49pc by 2030 and by 60pc by 2040. Moreover, these targets are based on 2019 rather than a 2016 baseline and imply even lower outright emissions in 2030 of 178mn t CO2e than under the September NDC update. The net-zero plan also foresees emissions falling to 87mn t CO2e by 2040, before the country reaches its net-zero goal in 2050.

The UAE has previously said it plans to reach net zero emissions by boosting clean energy production from sources such as solar and green hydrogen, as well as via waste management, energy efficiency, and green mobility. The country will also look at carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) and small modular nuclear reactors to achieve its goals.

Source https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news/2390619-cop-27-uae-net-zero-plan-implies-deeper-emissions-cut

ILO launches initiatives on Green Jobs for Youth and Just Transition financing tools at COP27
During the first week of the UN Climate Change Conference the ILO launched a bold partnership to accelerate green job creation for youth, as well as the Just Transition Finance Tool on Banking and Investment Activities, and opened the Just Transition Pavilion.

Geneva (ILO News)- The International Labour Organization (ILO) has launched the first Green Jobs for Youth Pact at the Climate Change Conference in Egypt – also known as COP27.

The Youth Pact, a partnership with the UN and other agencies, aims to close the skills gap for young people in developing countries and target climate-vulnerable sectors. Its goals include creating one million green jobs, supporting the greening of one million existing jobs, and helping 10,000 green entrepreneurs.

The Pact is part of the ILO’s work to promote a Just Transition to a more sustainable and greener future. It brings together the ILO, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the European Commission, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and the children and youth constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (YOUNGO) and LinkedIn.

Source https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_861228/lang–en/index.htm

Stroud children lead climate change march
On a side note, around 100 people marched through Stroud, as part of a Global Day of Action to coincide with COP 27. Demonstrators, led by a group of children, marching with Youth Strike 4 Climate, gathered in Wallbridge Green at about 11:00 GMT. Over 40 rallies were planned throughout the UK on Saturday, during the UN summit COP27 in Egypt. Young people led the march, saying they were protesting for their rights to a future without the threat of climate catastrophe.

Eight-year-old Mary said the world was not as nice as it should be when it was “full of oil and plastic”.

Youth Strike 4 Climate said governments needed to act on initiatives agreed upon at Glasgow’s COP26 conference.

Ten-year-old Emilie said: “We’re young and we want our future to be amazing and for all young generations like us, we want it to be good for our adulthood.”