Agriculture and food systems sit at the heart of the world’s most pressing challenges – both as a driver of global crises and as a powerful lever for change.

Food systems account for a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, emitting over 17 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually, with agricultural production and land use making up over 70% of food systems’ emissions. Rising temperatures, shifting rainfall, evolving pest distributions, and intensifying extreme weather events are reducing crop yields, degrading nutritional quality, with climate change potentially driving cereal prices up by 50% by 2050.

The impacts of a broken food system fall most heavily on those least able to respond. Marginalized and vulnerable communities – like women, smallholder farmers, fishing communities, Indigenous Peoples, and beyond – often face the highest risks of food insecurity, malnutrition, and related health issues. The inequity extends to financing: regions suffering the most acute food insecurity often receive the lowest levels of investment. Funding for food security and nutrition remains highly uneven, leaving many countries without the means to build resilient, sustainable food systems.

Yet transforming food systems offers one of the greatest opportunities to deliver for people, nature, and climate. Reforms that promote regenerative and climate‑smart agricultural practices can reduce emissions and build resilience to droughts, floods, and other climate impacts. Minimizing food loss and waste, supporting diversified and healthier diets, and improving agri-food supply‑chain transparency can further mitigate emissions while addressing malnutrition and enhancing food security. Overall, transforming how we produce, process, and consume food offers one of the most powerful opportunities to reduce emissions, enhance climate resilience, halt biodiversity loss, and improve nutrition and livelihoods.