Climate goals and SDGs: Money, that’s what (we) want

First in a series of posts examining key issues involving climate and food systems—here, climate finance—as the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai approaches (November 30-December 12). 

Agriculture, and more broadly food systems, play a central role in plans and programs to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement’s objectives of climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience. Mobilizing adequate financial resources to cover the costs of those plans and programs is essential. Many of the cost estimates for the SDGs and climate change objectives for developing countries (without China) suggest the need of additional financing of $3 trillion-$4 trillion annually, and up to $680 billion annually for food systems only.

Yet current levels of financing remain insufficient to achieve both the objectives of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement, particularly in developing countries, according to the UN Secretary-General’s summary of the July 2023 stock-taking two years after the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), and the Political Declaration of the September 2023 SDG Summit.