2023-11-02 02:00:10
A banana packaging factory in Basse-Pointe, on the island of Martinique, November 24, 2022. CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP
The next world climate conference (COP28), scheduled from November 30 to December 12 in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), should revive the standoff over fossil fuels, the exit from which is essential to hope to limit warming to 1, 5°C, but which faces resistance from several oil and gas states. To provide arguments to COP28 negotiators, an alliance of foundations, the Global Alliance for the Future of Food (GAFF, which counts among its thirty members the Rockefeller, Heinrich Boll, Ikea and Daniel and Nina Carasso foundations), is evaluating , Thursday November 2, the weight of food systems at least 15% of global fossil fuel consumption.
“The share of food in the use of fossil fuels has never before been calculated in a global manner, says Patty Fong, GAFF Program Director. We know that the Emirati presidency of COP28 wants to make agriculture and food a priority: it is an opportunity, but there is a significant risk of greenwashing on the part of a State which is a major producer of oil and gas. » With this report, the GAFF shows that the exit from fossil fuels will not be possible without a transition in food systems, which represent more than a third of greenhouse gas emissions. Just as the transition of agriculture cannot do without a reflection on its dependence on fossil fuels.
“This report is very innovative and timely, comments Molly Anderson, member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-food) and professor at Middlebury University in the United States, who did not participate in the GAFF work. Until now, people working on food and energy have been poorly coordinated, but they must act together if we have any hope of limiting climate change. This work by the GAFF provides indisputable arguments on the actions to be taken. »
“A strong expansion of petrochemicals”
According to the GAFF assessment, dependence on fossil fuels is evident throughout the food chain. The stages that consume the most fossil fuels are those of processing and packaging (42%), followed by distribution and food waste (38%). In twenty years, the distance traveled by our food has increased by 25%, increasing greenhouse gas emissions linked to transport. Our diets have also evolved towards increased consumption of processed, packaged and industrialized products, and the trend has spread to low- and middle-income countries.
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