FAO’s Energy-Smart Food for People and Climate (ESF) Programme
The ESF programme is a multi-partner initiative that works with member countries helping them move towards energy-smart agrifood systems that are less dependent on fossil fuels. The four pillars of the ESF programme form the overall framework of FAO’s work on Energy:
- Access to modern energy services in rural areas
- Energy efficiency in agrifood systems
- Renewable energy in agrifood systems
- Application of a water-energy-food nexus approach
Key facts
- Food systems currently consume 30% of the world’s available energy.
- 70% percent of the energy consumed by food systems occurs after food leaves farms, in transportation, processing, packaging, shipping, storage, marketing, etc.
- Energy is responsible for about 35% of GHG emissions from agrifood chains (excluding those from land use change).
- An estimated one-third of the food we produce is lost or wasted, and with it an estimated 38 percent of energy consumed in food systems.
- Modern food systems are heavily dependent on fossil fuels.
- Nearly one in five people (1.4 billion) around the world do not currently have access to modern electricity services.
- Approximately three billion people rely on traditional biomass for cooking and heating, with adverse effects on health, the environment and economic development.
Contact us
for more information please contact energy@fao.org