The agricultural industry produces 25% of the worlds greenhouse gasses. Photo aimforclimate.org

GLASGOW — The Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate), a major new initiative led by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and United States (US) with the support of over 30 governments, officially launched on 02 November. This includes $4 billion in investments to accelerate innovation for climate-smart agriculture and food systems over the next five years.

The initiative, launched as part of the World Leaders’ Summit at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), aims to increase and accelerate agricultural and food systems innovation in support of climate action. While farmers and ranchers around the world face the impacts of climate change on a daily basis, nearly 25 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture. AIM for Climate is focused on enabling innovation investment in a sector that employs over two billion people and feeds the world’s growing population.

AIM for Climate’s diverse list of supporters includes over 30 countries from six continents. Việt Nam has been announced as a Government Partner for AIM for Climate.

John Kerry, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, said that:“The United States is proud to be launching the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate initiative alongside the United Arab Emirates and over 80 partners across the globe. Investment in climate-smart agriculture innovation is critical to addressing the climate crisis. Innovation can reduce emissions, feed the world’s growing population, and help farmers and ranchers mitigate and adapt to climate change. AIM for Climate has had an impressive start, garnering $4 billion in increased investment in climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation thus far, but together AIM for Climate partners can and must do more to catalyze even greater investment in the years ahead. I look forward to seeing what AIM for Climate can accomplish and encourage more to join this effort.”

Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change and UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, said that: “AIM for Climate is focusing on a sector that has been previously overlooked in terms of the opportunities it offers for global climate action. This initiative demonstrates the UAE’s holistic and inclusive approach to climate action, which characterizes our offer to host COP28. The United Arab Emirates has already driven change in the energy sector through green innovation and growth, investing over $17 billion in clean energy around the world. AIM for Climate is a smart extension of that investment strategy.” 

Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment, added: “A major part of the climate challenge revolves around food and agriculture. When we consider that about a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, and the world’s growing population is increasingly dependent on climate-vulnerable food production, we can see the urgency of driving investments in agricultural innovation and R&D. AIM for Climate is the kind of bold move towards accelerating the global food systems transformation that we need, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 and eradicate world hunger by 2030. The initiative will go a long way in mobilizing a global movement to strengthen food security, transform our food systems into more sustainable ones and mitigate climate change.”

US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack agrees that the climate crisis threatens to disrupt food systems around the globe, exacerbating food insecurity and negatively impacting farmers’ livelihoods.

“We must invest in innovative, science-based solutions to help agriculture mitigate and adapt to climate change – and that’s what AIM for Climate is all about,” he said.

“We welcome our newest AIM for Climate supporters and urge additional nations and organisations to join us in this global effort to accelerate agricultural innovation through increased investment in research and development, ” he said.

The Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate / AIM4C) is a joint initiative created by the United States and the United Arab Emirates. The countries participating in AIM for Climate include Australia, Azerbaijan, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, Georgia, Ghana, Honduras, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Romania, Singapore, Sweden, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, United Kingdom, Uruguay and Vietnam.

AIM for Climate seeks to address the climate crisis by uniting participants to significantly increase and accelerate investment in and other support for climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation over the next five years (2021 – 2025).

AIM for Climate partners intend to catalyse greater public and private sector investment in, and other support for, climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation to help to raise global ambition and underpin more rapid and transformative climate action in all countries, including by enabling science-based and data-driven decision and policy-making. AIM for Climate partners are committing to significantly increase total investment in agricultural innovation by 2025 versus the 2020 baseline.

AIM for climate seeks to enable ambitious investment in climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation to help create a surge of solutions, enabling the world to meet nutritional needs, increase agricultural productivity, improve livelihoods, conserve nature and biodiversity, build resilience to climate change, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and sequester carbon. VNS