Food Systems can be transformed – together
Climate Justice Begins on Our Plates
Making the Right to Food a Central Pillar of COP30
A lot of hope lies on the upcoming COP30 in Belém, Brazil—a COP taking place in the Amazon and designed to bring international climate negotiations to the heart of both the problems and solutions. The Brazilian Presidency has made it its goal not only to strengthen multilateralism and accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement but also to bring the climate regime closer to people’s lived experiences and emphasize the important role of forests and food systems transformation in delivering on both climate objectives and the eradication of hunger and poverty. But will it finally bring climate justice?
International climate policy is significantly off track
International efforts for climate action are lagging far behind the ambition we need to rein in an accelerating climate crisis. Shifting priorities and a difficult geopolitical landscape have resulted in a stark gap between current commitments and the level of emissions reduction needed to stay within global temperature limits. Big emitters are letting the rest of the world down, either by not submitting their updated nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to the UNFCCC or by denying climate change and disavowing climate policy altogether.
In light of this, the Brazilian aspirations for COP30, emphasizing food, agriculture, and prioritization of adaptation finance are welcome and much needed for doubling down on climate justice and delivering adaptation at scale. The adaptation finance gap alone is huge: the anticipated needs of developing countries by 2035 are at least 12 times bigger than current international public adaptation finance flows. It must be clear, however, that there are limits to what adaptation can achieve on its own if we fail to reduce emissions. We need to transform systems in an integrated manner to succeed, and food systems are the best place to start.
Food systems are central to achieving climate justice
Aligning agriculture and food systems transformation with climate strategies is crucial given that agrifood systems account for about one-third of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions while simultaneously at great risk of climate impacts.
The interplay of extreme weather events, poor governance, and conflicts and disruptions to global food trade already drive hunger and internal displacement leaving an estimated 673 million people undernourished. Food insecurity, hunger, and poverty are driving factors in vulnerability to climate impacts and need to be addressed to reduce risks and build resilience.
The agrifood sector holds vast potential for low-carbon innovation, carbon sequestration and emissions reduction, and employs nearly 40 percent of the global workforce making it a key sector for a global just transition to low-carbon development. Agrifood systems are the socioeconomic backbone of many emerging and developing economies, making agricultural adaptation a necessity for wellbeing and prosperity.
The Global North must meet its responsibilities and close the adaptation finance gap
In many countries of the Global South, adaptation is no longer a choice but a matter of survival, urgently requiring political and financial support from the Global North.
Pakistan, for example, is among the countries most severely affected by climate change and one of the five most flood-prone nations worldwide according to the latest WorldRiskReport. The devastating floods in September cost over 1,000 lives, displaced 3.5 million people and damaged 1 million hectares of farmland destroying “about 50% of rice, and 60% of cotton and maize crops” according to Pakistan Farmers Association. Alongside adaptation, disaster risk reduction, anticipatory action and recovery systems need to be strengthened to build resilience and prevent hazards from repeatedly eroding development gains and deepening poverty and food insecurity.
In September, African leaders sent a clear message to the global community: the continent is done being victimized and ready to take a leading role in climate solutions, but it needs the international community to deliver on its responsibilities and close the finance gap. Home to over 1.5 billion people, Africa contributes less than 4 percent to global greenhouse gas emissions yet warms faster than the global average and faces increasingly extreme climate impacts. Droughts, floods and storms lead to widespread crop failures in areas already suffering from food insecurity and undernourishment (see GHI 2025), often triggering acute food crises and pushing millions to the brink of famine. Meanwhile, only around 3.3 percent of global climate finance reaches Africa, and the most vulnerable countries remain severely underfunded.
Locally led, conflict-sensitive climate action is key to sustainable solutions
The Addis Ababa Declaration makes an urgent call for global climate justice and picks up several of our civil society demands for locally-led, conflict-sensitive and fairly financed climate action. It includes commitments not only to make food systems more resilient to climate shocks using homegrown solutions but also to back smallholder farmers, especially women and youth, by improving their access to climate-resilient seeds, irrigation, index-based insurance, climate information and low-cost technologies. Success will depend on whether the commitments made at the second Africa Climate Summit survive the glare of international negotiations and translate into tangible resources and results.
To achieve the goal of ‘Zero Hunger,’ humanity must mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Climate action and climate finance are neither charity nor mere moral imperative—they are a matter of collective interest and states have a legal responsibility to act on climate (ICJ Advisory Opinion, 23 July 2025). We know of the double injustice that leaves those least responsible for the climate crisis most vulnerable to its impacts and with the fewest resources to cope and adapt. We must not allow this to become a triple injustice where global solutions further deepen exclusion and marginalization.
Climate action must therefore be locally led, conflict sensitive and fairly financed. The COP must champion climate solutions that are rooted in local leadership and the right to food, and that put people at the center.
We call on member states:
To close the adaptation finance gap with transparent, predictable, and flexible grants
Transparent, predictable, and grant-based finance must close the adaptation finance gap, support loss and damage, and reach those most in need. Fragile and conflict-affected areas are too often left out, yet these are where climate risks are greatest. Funding locally led adaptation and food systems resilience in these at-risk areas protects lives, advances equity, and upholds the right to food.
Despite tight budgets, there must be no pushback on existing commitments. Public finance must remain central for adaptation interventions that often have public good characteristics or are in social or non-market sectors. Grants and non-debt creating mechanisms must be prioritized to avoid deepening debt burdens.
To prioritize locally led, conflict-sensitive and inclusive adaptation that strengthens food systems and community resilience
Climate change interacts with poverty, inequality, and governance failures in ways that can perpetuate cycles of vulnerability. A conflict-sensitive approach to adaptation means recognizing and tackling these interlinkages—integrating disaster risk reduction, anticipatory action, and recovery into adaptation planning to prevent new crises from emerging.
Only by aligning adaptation with peacebuilding and social protection, and shifting power to include local actors as equal partners can we build societies that are not only more climate-resilient but also more just, stable, and cohesive.
We call on the German government and EU in particular:
To take up their leadership role and ensure ambitious domestic mitigation linked to increased international support
At COP30 in Belém, Germany and the EU must drive implementation, linking domestic ambition to international responsibility, and ensuring that global climate action is fair, inclusive and rooted in justice. To remain steadfast and responsible partners, they must match diplomatic ambition with domestic delivery—cutting emissions faster, ending fossil fuel subsidies, and driving a just transition to sustainable food and energy systems.
To rebuild trust in multilateralism, Germany and the EU must keep and renew their commitment to public climate finance, reaffirming that climate justice in non-negotiable. For Germany, this means reassessing the 2026 draft budget—not only to ensure the increasingly uncertain delivery of the already committed 6 billion Euros per year from the public budget, but also to scale up its contribution to international climate finance in line with rising needs or at least meeting the new collective quantified goal (NCQG) agreed at COP29 in Baku.
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