World Bank: $260bn Annual Investment Required to Reduce Global Agri-food Emissions by 2030

Gilbert Ekugbe

The World Bank has stated that $260 billion annual investment would be required to reduce global agri-food emissions by half in the next six years.

According to a statement obtained from the World Bank’s website, the annual investment is also critical to achieve the net zero emissions by 2050.

The multilateral institution also revealed that payoffs for investing in cutting agrifood emissions are even much bigger than the costs.

The report added: “Twice as much money is spent yearly on agricultural subsidies, many of which harm the environment. While cutting wasteful subsidies can finance some of this investment, additional financing is essential to get to net zero.”

The World Bank stressed that making these investments would lead to more than $4 trillion in benefits, from improvements in human health, food and nutrition security, better quality jobs and profits for farmers, to more carbon retained in forests and soils.

The statement added that the global agrifood system presented a huge opportunity to cut almost a third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions through affordable and readily available actions, while continuing to feed a growing population.

“While the food on your table may taste good, it is also a hefty slice of the climate change emissions pie. The good news is that the global food system can heal the planet –making soils, ecosystems, and people healthier, while keeping carbon in the ground. This is within reach in our lifetimes, but countries must act now: simply changing how middle-income countries use land, such as forests and ecosystems, for food production can cut agrifood emissions by a third by 2030,” the World Bank Senior Managing Director, Axel van Trotsenburg, said.

The statement added that low-income countries could chart a different way forward by avoiding the mistakes made by richer countries and seizing climate-smart opportunities for greener and more competitive economies.

“Preserving and restoring forests would promote sustainable economic development in low-income countries given that more than half of their agrifood emissions come from clearing forests to produce food.

“Action should happen across all countries to get to net zero, through a comprehensive approach to reducing emissions in food systems, including in fertilizers and energy, crop and livestock production, and packaging and distribution across the value chain from farm to table,” World Bank averred.