2024农业食品行动转型报告

Transition in Action, Agri-food

Introduction

The global population is projected to reach nearly ten billion by 2050, necessitating significant expansion in the agri-food sector. However, balancing current and future production while preserving nature poses a major challenge due to limited land availability, changing weather patterns, and intensive farming practices that lead to soil degradation and depleted groundwater.

Key Messages

1. Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) Sector: The AFOLU sector is deeply affected by the climate and biodiversity crisis, contributing approximately 30% of total global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
2. Climate Transition Finance: Financial mechanisms are needed to help farmers mitigate the impact of food production on the environment and ensure resilience to climate risks.
3. Sustainable Finance: Sustainable debt is already being used to support the AFOLU market transition and is increasingly encouraged by the financial system.
4. Sector-Specific Challenges: The AFOLU sector faces unique challenges, such as the need to finance millions of small farms and the complexity of achieving a credible transition.
5. Impactful Investment: Investments must incorporate climate, green, and social considerations to address multiple objectives of climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience, biodiversity protection, and poverty alleviation.

New Climate Bonds Sector Criteria

1. Deforestation and Conversion Free Sourcing (DCF): Two new criteria for Agriculture Production and DCF will be published in 2024 by the Climate Bonds Initiative, guiding the structuring of climate transition finance instruments.
2. Mitigation and Adaptation: Criteria include deforestation-free supply chains and measures to reduce emissions and enhance resilience.

Sustainable Finance Along the Supply Chain

1. Current Status: Traders, manufacturers, and retailers already use climate transition finance through bilateral loans with banks or themed bonds.
2. Future Potential: Greater transparency and innovative financing solutions are needed to scale sustainable finance and avoid carbon leakage.

Scaling Sustainable Finance

1. Direct Payments and Sustainable Supply Chain Finance: Financing must support farmers, helping them lift themselves out of poverty and pay for Nature-Based Solutions (NbS).
2. Resilient Impact: Sustainable finance at the farm level must prioritize socio-economic and environmental impacts.
3. Transparency: The loan market requires greater visibility and transparency to track progress.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

1. Materiality: KPIs and impact reporting metrics should capture the complexity of the sector beyond scope 3 GHG emissions.
2. Sustainability-Linked Instruments: Examples of alternative KPIs for each actor along the value chain are provided, focusing on the scaling of sustainable initiatives.

Aligned Deals and Sustainable Debt Market

1. Labelled Bonds: Climate Bonds Initiative screens labelled debt for inclusion in its datasets, classifying bonds as aligned, pending, or non-aligned.
2. SLBs: Sustainability-Linked Bonds are assessed based on their alignment with relevant pathways, with four levels of alignment.

Conclusion

The transition to a sustainable agri-food sector is underway, driven by the need to balance production and environmental preservation. Financial mechanisms are crucial to support this transition, ensuring that the sector becomes part of the climate solution while improving food security and lifting millions out of poverty.