After years of being virtually ignored, the critical role of food and agriculture in the climate crisis finally has a seat at the table at COP28.

The conference has dedicated a day to the theme of “Food, Agriculture, and Water,” which acknowledges that agriculture accounts for one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions and uses 70 percent of water consumed worldwide. The U.N. is expected to release a roadmap to align food systems with the Paris Agreement that will call for wealthy countries to consume less meat. For the first time, even the menus at COP will be mostly plant-based to reflect the conference’s goals.

But bringing food systems into the conversation won’t be enough to fight the climate crisis unless it’s paired with action and accountability. And it could even push us in the wrong direction if we’re served false solutions.
It seems that every few months — sandwiched between stories of climate-related extreme storms, droughts, flooding and fires — a new analysis finds that the world is on course to hurtle past the emissions-reduction targets that would avert the worst harms of climate change. The U.N. itself just published a report that current national climate plans aren’t enough to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
But we’re not beyond hope yet. Scientists have made it clear that every degree we can slow global warming matters for the frequency and severity of storms, our ability to grow food, the health of ecosystems and the number of lives at risk.