Great Food Reset: John Kerry targets agriculture as part of climate crusade – Slashing farm emissions critical to fighting climate change, John Kerry says
Kerry: “We can’t get to net-zero, we don’t get this job done unless agriculture is front and center as part of the solution. So all of us understand here the depths of this mission.” … Kerry added that “lives depend” on world leaders and scientists developing the tools necessary to lower agriculture emissions. … I refuse to call it climate change anymore. It’s not change. It’s a crisis.”
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“Mitigating methane is the fastest way to reduce warming in the short term. Food and agriculture can contribute to a low-methane future by improving farmer productivity and resilience. We welcome agriculture ministers participating in the implementation of the Global Methane Pledge,” said John Kerry, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.
By: Admin – Climate Depot
Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry warned Wednesday that the world can’t tackle climate change without first addressing the agriculture sector’s emissions.
Kerry lamented that agriculture production alone creates 33% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions, arguing that reducing those emissions must be “front and center” in the quest to defeat global warming, during remarks Wednesday morning at the Department of Agriculture’s AIM for Climate Summit. The former secretary of state also touted so-called climate smart agriculture as a potential solution.
“A lot of people have no clue that agriculture contributes about 33% of all the emissions of the world,” he said during his keynote address. “We can’t get to net-zero, we don’t get this job done unless agriculture is front and center as part of the solution. So all of us understand here the depths of this mission.”
“Food systems themselves contribute a significant amount of emissions just in the way in which we do the things we’ve been doing,” he continued. “With a growing population on the planet – we just crossed the threshold of 8 billion fellow citizens around the world – emissions from the food system alone are projected to cause another half a degree of warming by mid-century.”
Kerry added that “lives depend” on world leaders and scientists developing the tools necessary to lower agriculture emissions.
Overall, the global food system – which includes land-use change, actual agricultural production, packaging and waste management – generates about 18 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year, the equivalent of 34% of total worldwide emissions, according to a March 2021 study published in the Nature Food journal.
In the U.S., though, agriculture alone generates about 10% of total greenhouse gas emissions, federal data showed.
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“This sector needs innovation now more than ever,” Kerry continued Wednesday. “We’re facing record malnutrition at a time when agriculture, more than any other sector, is suffering from the impacts of the climate crisis. And I refuse to call it climate change anymore. It’s not change. It’s a crisis.”
“We need economic, social and policy innovation in order to scale adaptation of these technical solutions and get them into the hands of folks in the fields of small farmers on a worldwide basis. This is the promise of AIM for Climate Summit.”
Slashing farm emissions critical to fighting climate change, John Kerry says
WASHINGTON, May 10 (Reuters) – Cutting greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural production is essential to the global fight against climate change, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said on Wednesday.
Agriculture generates 10% to 12% of greenhouse gas emissions globally, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The food system as a whole – including packaging, transportation, and waste management – generates a third of global emissions, according to a 2021 study published in the academic journal Nature Food.
“We can’t get to net zero, we don’t get this job done, unless agriculture is front and center as part of the solution,” Kerry, the special presidential envoy for climate, said at the AIM for Climate summit in Washington.
He said that without cutting agricultural emissions, the world may not reach its goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius – which scientists say must be achieved to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
President Joe Biden has pledged the U.S. will reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Rising global temperatures have severe implications for malnutrition and food security worldwide, Kerry said.
“A 2-degree future could result in another 600 million people not getting enough to eat,” said the former U.S. secretary of state. “You can’t continue to warm the planet while also expecting to feed it.”
AIM for Climate is a global initiative, co-led by the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates, to drive investment in farming practices that cut the sector’s emissions.
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Major Livestock Producing Countries Commit to Mitigate Methane in Agriculture
Santiago, Chile – Today, the Global Methane Hub announced that agriculture and environment ministers and ambassadors from 13 countries, including the United States, have issued a commitment to reduce methane emissions in agriculture. Last month, the Global Methane Hub collaborated with the Ministries of Agriculture of Chile and Spain to convene the first-ever global ministerial on agricultural practices to reduce methane emissions.
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“Mitigating methane is the fastest way to reduce warming in the short term. Food and agriculture can contribute to a low-methane future by improving farmer productivity and resilience. We welcome agriculture ministers participating in the implementation of the Global Methane Pledge,” said John Kerry, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.
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Related:
Daily Mail: ‘Leave us alone to do what we do best’: Fury at UK plan to hand millions to farmers to turn 741,000 acres of land into nature reserves pushed by ‘rewilding cult’
- George Eustice launches £2.4billion-a-year plan replacing EU’s £2.4bn common agricultural policy
- Farmers and landowners will be paid for planting trees and restoring wetlands in 15 new nature reserves
- The ‘landscape recovery scheme’ will eventually cost the taxpayer £800million a year from 2028
- But there are concerns about risk to food security and policy will benefit Britain’s richest landowners
- Farmers say Boris Johnson’s ‘mad’ obsession with rewilding will drive smaller farmers out of business
- Ministers claim plans will turn 741,000 acres into wildlife habitats in 20 years and will not risk food supply
