How the EU’s Vision for Agriculture and Food could shape global food security and climate change - ECDPM

As hunger and global temperatures rise, food systems sit at the heart of both issues – as the providers of food and as major drivers of climate change. This dual role places them at the centre of two urgent global goals: achieving zero hunger (SDG2) and limiting global warming to 1.5°C – the Paris Agreement’s target. To achieve both, at times conflicting, goals, the Food and Agriculture Organization has introduced a climate roadmap aiming to align both objectives.

This brief uses this roadmap as a lens to look at the EU’s evolving food policy and its possible impacts for global food security and climate goals. The EU – as the world's largest food trader and a significant agricultural emitter – contributes both positively and negatively to these goals. The newly launched Vision for Agriculture and Food places European food producers at the centre by prioritising farmer income and competitiveness, which is likely to maintain the bloc’s contributions to global markets. It takes a step back, however, on ambitions for a broader food system transformation and moves from rules to incentives on climate practices, which raises concerns about achieving the necessary and difficult rapid decarbonisation in the agricultural sector. While other EU sectors continue their transformation, the food system now risks accounting for a growing share of the continent's emissions, inevitably leading to persistent calls for greater action.