How Food Systems Are Driving Climate Change

How the world produces and consumes food accounts for up to a third of annual greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, climate change is radically changing food systems, with global consequences. Something has to change, says Ryan Hobert, the UN Foundation’s Managing Director for Energy, Climate & the Environment. In this Q&A, he suggests ways to make sure what goes on our plates contributes to a healthier, more resilient planet.

The average person doesn’t start paying attention to these issues until they see the changes happening in their backyard. Everyone points to changing temperatures and increases in wildfires and floods. How do food systems contribute to climate change? 

Some estimates, including by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC], put food system emissions — which include growing the food, transportation, storage, selling, consumption, and waste — at up to one-third of total global greenhouse gas emissions. We need food systems that are prepared for the changes that are coming; and then, at the same time, we need to enlist food systems to help us reduce emissions and bring that one-third figure down.

How we grow our food, how we get it to market, how we cook it, what we do with the waste — all of those things have a tremendous influence on greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore on our climate.