COP29 preview: 'In solidarity for a green world'

‘In solidarity for a green world’ is the lofty title that appears when you first land on the COP29 website, along with ubiquitous woodland and landscape imagery.

Before considering how food system change is to be considered at COP29, I had a quick scan through the United Nations’ own sustainability plan for the conference.

At first glance, the reference to ‘Choose Sustainable Food Options’, under the section ‘Promote Sustainable Behaviour’, seems strong. However, dig a little further, and you can see that the grand target is for 80% of food procurement to be locally sourced.

Now, I’m in an advanced position on this issue, having written to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) about COP29 and asking them to ensure 100% low-carbon and plant-based catering during the conference. What I got back was less than satisfactory, stating that catering at COPs is at the discretion of the host country, and that the UNFCCC Secretariat is not in a position to request exclusively vegetarian and vegan food. Hardly a testament to strong global leadership!

The UNFCCC’s statement that sourcing 80% of food locally greatly reduces the carbon footprint of food is also not borne out by the evidence that food miles account for very little of the overall carbon footprint – a lot of foodstuffs are, after all, transported by sea. My full exchange with the UNFCCC will be published in our winter members’ magazine (which you can become a member of the Vegetarian Society to read!), and we will continue to push UNFCCC to show global leadership on this issue at future COPs.

In terms of the conference itself, Tuesday 19^th November will see the topic of ‘Food, Agriculture and Water’ under the spotlight, in what I believe to be only the second time in COP history that this issue has its own dedicated day. The likely focus for talks includes an emphasis on funding for changes to agricultural practices and methane reduction from organic wastes. Specific commitments already published by the Azerbaijan presidency include the ‘Baku Harmoniya Climate Initiative for Farmers’, described as:

An aggregator bringing together initiatives, coalitions and networks to share experiences, identify synergies and gaps, facilitate finance, and foster collaboration on agriculture, including by empowering communities and women in rural areas.

While it is a real step forward to see such as focus on food systems, the rhetoric and suggested actions such as that above hardly raise the pulse. Developing an ‘aggregator’ to foster collaboration should surely have been a discussion point for COP1, not COP29?

I do wish someone from within the ministerial negotiating teams would just come out and shout ‘Enough!’ – enough junkets! enough grand speeches! – and push the UNFCCC to take a real leadership position: setting out a global plan for food systems transition which contains the hard but necessary truths, then ‘demanding’ that countries adopt change in their national plans. Of course, it would carry no legal weight at a global level, but quiet diplomacy and careful language are moving us along at a deadening crawl to an ever-deepening abyss.

After all, consensus seems to be that limiting warming to 1.5°C is now a target that can no longer be achieved, only eight years after it was the major milestone outcome of COP21 in Paris. The only question I personally have of the COP process now is whether it is even the right vehicle for creating the necessary change. Sometimes, it’s revolution – not evolution – that is required. But how can we bring this about?

If you have any ideas, drop us a line at hello@vegsoc.org and title your email ‘COP29’. We’d love to hear them!

Image: Zulfugar Graphics/Shutterstock.com