COP28, the United Nations’ climate summit in Dubai, wraps up tomorrow. Over the last couple of weeks, there’s been a lot of talk about making global food systems more resilient in the face of climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions tied to agriculture. Plus, billions of dollars have been pledged toward those goals. 

Funding that experts say is badly needed and long overdue. 

About a third of global greenhouse gas emissions are tied to food and agriculture, according to the U.N. But this is the first time that these sectors have been a headline item at U.N. world climate talks, says Patty Fong with the Global Alliance for the Future of Food. 

“(In the past) most of the attention in climate has been towards decarbonizing energy,” she said.

That’s partly because there’s a clearer path toward an energy transition. 

When world leaders or philanthropists want to support that, there are lots of ready-made and proven solutions for them to invest in, says Daniela Chiriac with the Climate Policy Initiative. 

“There is no solar panel in agri-food systems,” she said.

By that, she means climate innovations aren’t always scalable or transferable from one agricultural economy to another. 

“When we talk about what are the technical, practical solutions for climate and agrifood systems, they are very specific to the local context,” Chiriac said.

That’s part of why less than 5% of global climate finance is earmarked for food and agriculture, according to a Climate Policy Initiative analysis. 

But world leaders at COP28 have pledged to put more than $3 billion toward a more sustainable food supply. 

So, why now? 

“Well, it’s increasingly hard to ignore,” said Chris Barrett, a professor of economics at Cornell. 

He says one thing drawing world leaders’ attention is the rising cost of food, which is driven in part by climate change.