COP28 Daily Digest: Everything You Need To Know in Food and Climate News – Day 7

Welcome to Day 7 of #COP28. In Green Queen’s COP28 Daily Digest, our editorial team curates the must-reads, the must-bookmarks and the must-knows from around the interwebs to help you ‘skim the overwhelm’.

Catch up: DAY 1 – DAY 2 – DAYS 3 & 4 – DAY 5 – DAY 6

Headlines You Need To Know

The COP-related news you cannot miss.

UPDATED GLOBAL STOCKTAKE DRAFT REMOVES MENTION OF FOOD SYSTEMS: A new draft of the Global Stocktake outcomes has removed any mention of food and agriculture, actions related to which were present in earlier drafts and promised to feature prominently at this year’s summit. It has led to over 50 organisations calling for these solutions to be reintegrated in the final draft, with an encouraging outcome expected.

AGRIFOOD SECURITY NEGOTIATIONS HALT, WITH NO FURTHER TALKS UNTIL JUNE: Negotiations around coordination and governance on the Joint Work on Agriculture and Food Security (SSJW) – which aims to address gaps in agriculture and food security – are at an impasse. As talks conclude, there will be no more updates on this until the next meeting in June 2024, which is a major blow to farmers and producers.

NEW TOOL HELPS GOVERNMENTS IMPLEMENT FOOD-FORWARD NDCS: A group of organisations led by the WWF have announced a new tool to help policymakers implement food-centric nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Set to be launched in February 2024, Food Forward NDCs will present practices and policy measures to enable systemic food system shifts to meet NDC targets.

UK SET TO MISS PARIS AGREEMENT TARGETS BY WIDE MARGIN: Analysis by Friends of the Earth has revealed that under current regulations, the UK is set to miss the targets outlined by the Paris Agreement by a wide margin. The country’s current GHG emissions are set to be 59% lower in 2030 from a 1990 baseline, but its internationally agreed target is supposed to be a 68% reduction. Current policies would achieve just half of the reduction required by 2030 – and the gap has widened under Rishi Sunak’s prime ministership.

10 AFRICAN COUNTRIES RECEIVE $100M FOOD LOSS FUNDS: The Green Climate Fund – the world’s largest environmental fund – has earmarked $100M in climate financing to aid 10 African countries in adapting to food loss reduction solutions. This will provide farmers with access to tech and make saving food more affordable and accessible.

SCIENTISTS CALL ON PUBLIC TO BECOME CLIMATE ACTIVISTS: 1,447 scientists and academics have penned an open letter calling on the public to become climate activists and take collective action against the crisis. “First, we were concerned. Then, we were alarmed. Now, we are terrified,” reads the letter. “We need you… Wherever you are, become a climate advocate or activist.”

OIL CEO COMPARES ENERGY-CLIMATE LINK TO FARMERS CAUSING OBESITY: The CEO of Emirati energy firm Crescent Petroleum was quoted as saying that associating the energy sector with climate change “is like blaming farmers for obesity”. “It’s our societal consumption that is the issue,” he told CNN, in the latest example of the oil industry’s influence at the climate summit.

‘GIGAFARM’ COULD REPLACE 1% OF UAE FOOD IMPORTS: A new 900,000 sq ft waste-to-value ‘GigaFarm’ capable of recycling 50,000 tonnes of food waste and growing two billion plants annually is set to begin construction in mid-2024. The result of a deal between Food Tech Valley and ReFarm at COP28, it will be operational by 2026 and could replace 1% of the UAE’s food imports.

NEW INITIATIVE AIMS TO BRIDGE NET-ZERO GAP BETWEEN GLOBAL NORTH AND SOUTH: The Net Zero Technology Centre has launched the Technology Without Borders initiative at COP28, a global tech collaborative project for rapid transfers, deployment and scale-up ambition to close the North-South net-zero energy tech divide. It will include tech co-development, transfer and local adaptation, knowledge sharing, and capacity building between countries.

EUROPEAN INVESTMENT FUND COMMITS €200M FOR CLIMATE EQUITY FUNDS: The European Investment Fund has announced €200M of investment in four private equity funds investing a total of €2B in climate action. This includes €40M to Tikehau Regenerative Agriculture, a €50M top-up to SDCL Green Energy Solutions Fund, €60M to Get Fund I, and €50M to SET Fund IV.

WORLD BANK TO LAUNCH 15 PROGRAMMES TO SLASH 10 MILLION TONNES OF METHANE: The World Bank is stepping up its efforts to “bend the methane emission curve” with 15 country-led programmes, to be launched over the next 18 months, that will reduce 10 million tonnes of the gas’s emissions.

60+ CEOS COMMIT TO CUT GHG EMISSIONS BY HALF BY 2030: A group of over 60 CEOs, who are members of the Alliance for Industry Decarbonization, have committed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by over 51% and boost investment in energy transition projects to over $50B by the end of the decade. This includes companies like Siemens Energy, Tata Steel, Petronas and Standard Chartered.

NEW RESEARCH PROGRAMME TRACTS METRICS TO REDUCE LIVESTOCK FARMING: Animal rights organisation Mercy For Animals has introduced a new research programme to identify and create tractable metrics for reducing animal agriculture. Titlted Metrics That Nourish, it will evaluate existing programmes to measure this impact, develop tactics that are context- and geography-specific, and refine them through pilot studies to transition the food system away from industrial livestock farming.

WWF & REFED FORM US FOOD WASTE PACT: The WWF and non-profit ReFED have formed a US Food Waste Pact, a voluntary agreement to allow pre-competitive collaboration and data-driven action to meet national and global food waste reduction targets, including the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 (halving global food waste by 2030).

Key #COP28 Reports

The food and climate reports you need to know about today.

• The planet on the verge of five catastrophic tipping points: The 2023 Global Tipping Points report suggests that the Earth is on the verge of five catastrophic events that can trigger a domino effect, including the collapse of ice sheets in the two poles, permafrost thawing, coral reef deaths in warm waters and the collapse of an atmospheric current. Three more of these tipping points may be reached by 2030 if the world goes beyond 1.5°C.
• Clean cooking can catalyse green food system: A new report by the Clean Cooking Alliance outlines the key role that clean cooking tech can play in a shift towards a sustainable food system by supporting climate-smart farming, enhancing nutrition and food security, and improving resilience among agricultural communities.
• The role of regenerative agriculture for food transformation: A WWF paper explains how strengthening the alignment between agroecology, regenerative agriculture and nature-positive approaches can be a catalyst for food system transformation.
• UK policymakers urge government to put soil on the same footing as water and air: The UK Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has published the findings of its inquiry into soil health and suggested that soil health be taken as seriously as air and water quality to protect the food supply and environment. It calls on the government to fund standardised soil testing and administer statutory targets on soil health by 2028.
• Dietary shifts and eco-positive agriculture crucial to restore nature: A new report by SYSTEMIQ spotlights the importance investing in nature-positive food, forestry and fishing, as well as shifting diets as two of four priorities to protect and restore nature and address the causes of nature loss.

Awesome Resources From Media Friends

A curation of our favourite reads of the day – excellent guides, explainers and op-eds from around the web.

Science vs Big Oil: A New York Times op-ed argues that COP28 is a battle between the fossil fuel industry and science, with matters not helped by the conference president’s curious remarks a few days ago.

‘A buffet of false solutions’: Stephanie Feldstein, sustainability director at the Center for Biological Diversity, has written an op-ed for The Hill questioning whether the food policies being proposed at COP28 are meaningful.

The media is doing the greenwashing for fossil fuel giants: An investigation by several news organisations suggests that leading, trusted media sources have actively been producing and promoting misleading content for fossil fuel companies through native advertising, which are sponsored articles made to look like the rest of a publication’s work.

Lighter Green Fun

Funny stuff, weird stuff, random stuff related to COP you may enjoy.

COP math: Chad Frischmann, founder and CEO of Regenerative Intelligence, is not going to COP28. Why, you ask? He’s done some calculations to come up with a staggering (minimum) figure being spent on the “corrupt” conference: $226M.

COPGPT: Tired of all the research? Head to this very handy COP28-themed CustomGPT that answers all your burning questions. Mine, fittingly, was: “Is COP28 corrupt?” Alas, the chatbot is too politically correct.

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