CHAPTER ONE

Climate Change and Food Systems

Transforming Food Systems for Adaptation, Mitigation, and Resilience

Johan Swinnen, Channing Arndt, and Rob Vos

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Food system transformation must play a central role in climate adaption and mitigation through actions that ensure food security, livelihoods, and sustainability

KEY FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS

Climate change is a growing threat to our food systems, with impacts becoming increasingly evident. Rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and extreme weather events, among other effects, are already reducing agricultural yields and disrupting food supply chains. By 2050, climate change is expected to put millions of people at risk of hunger, malnutrition, and poverty.
Aspirations for food systems are extremely high. Global summits in 2021 highlighted the central role of food systems transformation in the world’s response to climate change as well as meeting multiple other development goals. Action to address climate change is underway but must be hastened by accelerating innovation, reforming policies, resetting market incentives, and increasing financing.
Adaptation is urgent, but feasible for food systems. Food production, distribution, and consumption practices must all be adapted to climate change to better support rural livelihoods and provide healthy diets for all, even as population and income growth increase the demand for food.

Food systems contribute substantially to greenhouse gas emissions and must play a role in mitigation through changes in agricultural practices and land use, more efficient value chains, and reduced food loss and waste.
Many promising innovations and policy approaches show potential to address climate change in food systems while also increasing productivity, improving diets, and advancing inclusion of vulnerable groups. These range from new crop varieties, clean energy sources, and digital technologies to trade reforms, landscape governance, and social protection programs. All of these will require substantial increases in funding for R&D and other investments in sustainable food systems transformation.
Food systems policies that create better market incentives, strengthen regulation and institutions, and fund R&D for climate-resilient technologies and practices are needed to catalyze and accelerate climate action.

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