Is your head was spinning from all the COP28 action like ours is? We created our own recap to help you (and us!) make sense of it all.
My major takeaways:
- It is relieving to see how much money and focus is being put on resilient food systems. Thinking about how the Paris Agreement started and how extraneous food has been conversations about climate change, we’ve *finally* arrived at giving it the attention that is needed. But I’m unnerved by the absence of actual targets and dollars committed *today*. We often see these jazzy big numbers of dollars committed but the fine print is that they *will be* committed on some future timeline that we’re not all totally aware of. We’ve run out of time, so let’s hurry it up here.
- Major commitments to food loss and waste are also a good sign. It feels like some valuable momentum has been lost over the last several years, especially in the US, so it is thrilling to see revamped efforts like the U.S. Food Waste Pact, and the new USDA food loss and waste strategy developed now too.
- Philanthropy is coming in hot – ReFED just published a hugely valuable report highlighting the immediate hashtagphilanthropic opportunities in food waste and loss today. We’re seeing major commitments from the Bezos Earth Fund, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation around food systems. These are to be expected from such large players, but its promising because it is creating the necessary upswell for corporate, family and private foundations to follow suit.
What are your thoughts? What’d I miss?! Now I need a nap!
