Repurposing Public Support To Agriculture To Accelerate The Transition To Low-carbon And Sustainable Food Systems

Globally, public support to the agriculture sector totals over USD 850 billion annually. Much of this support incentivises practices that drive climate change and biodiversity loss, threatening the sustainability of our food systems, undermining food security, and generating significant economic costs. In a world of constricted public finances, support to agriculture needs to better meet sustainable development outcomes. Investor groups such as the FAIRR Initiative have also called for such public reforms to send the right signals to the private sector, so that the latter can prioritise and channel more financing towards nature- and climate-positive business practices. Several G20 countries provide significant public support to their agriculture sectors, and some are taking steps to reform and better align public spending with climate and biodiversity outcomes. Brazil’s Low Carbon Agriculture Programme demonstrates how repurposing harmful agricultural support can help achieve climate mitigation efforts, alongside improving both the efficiency and adaptive capacity of agricultural production systems. In 2023, G20 Climate and Environment Ministers adopted language committing members party to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to identify and repurpose support harmful to biodiversity by 2030. Building on this, and recognising the key role played by finance ministries in allocating domestic budgets, G20 countries should adopt similar language on agricultural subsidy reform in the G20 Finance Ministers’ Communique in 2024. This would send a strong signal of commitment to tackling agriculture-related emissions and protecting the natural capital upon which billions worldwide depend for their livelihoods and food security. The communique could also be used to demonstrate G20 countries’ intentions to share practical lessons on repurposing agricultural support to accelerate transitions to sustainable food systems, including on mitigating impacts on affected stakeholders.