3 key takeaways from Climate Week NYC 2024
9 October 2024
Land is at the centre of many climate solutions for agri-food companies.
This year’s Climate Week NYC took place over 22-29 September 2024. Over the course of the week, it featured over 900 events attended by business leaders, NGOs, policy makers, and more, gathered together to discuss how to accelerate action on climate change.
Three members of the AFi backbone team were able to attend the summit: AFi Director Jeff Milder; AFi Lead Scientist Leah Samberg; and AFi Science & Policy Fellow Sam Levy. Land and land sector emissions were a major theme throughout the week and the AFi team were pleased to engage with various organisations and companies from across the globe on these topics.
Our top three takeaways from Climate Week NYC 2024 can be seen below:
1. Halting deforestation and conversion remains central to the climate transition
The vital role of halting land use change (LUC) as a key component of the climate transition is now well-accepted. The size and urgency of this wedge of the emissions pie was recognised in the remarks of many stakeholders, including several AFi Coalition members (eg, Conservation International, Imaflora, The Nature Conservancy, and WWF), as well as agri-food companies like LDC, Mars, and McDonalds.
In addition, there was a strong emphasis on halting deforestation and conversion as a key pathway for companies to comply with importer regulations, allowing them to access high value global markets. This was reflected in numerous talks, including the session on tackling deforestation and transforming cattle production in Brazil, hosted by IDH, the Tropical Forest Alliance, and The Nature Conservancy.
In recognition of this, methods to account for LUC emissions are rapidly improving and gaining traction. An increasing number of tool developers and service providers are creating ways to identify and reduce emissions from deforestation and conversion in company supply chains. With an uptick in innovation to address these challenges, it is clear that actions to prevent and eliminate deforestation and conversion from supply chain sourcing should remain as a core emissions reductions strategy as we look forward to COP29 later this year.
2. Increased focus on land management
A notable addition to the conversation at this year’s Climate Week NYC: addressing emissions from land management.
A wide range of sessions foregrounded investments in regenerative agriculture and 'insetting' of carbon enhancements in and around farms, including the From Decarbonisation to Regeneration: How to make insetting work for climate, nature, and communities session from Conservation International. These activities, such as improved soil management, buffer plantings, and small-scale restoration, can bring benefits for crop health, climate adaptation, and livelihood diversification.
But as strategies for agri-food companies to reduce their Scope 3 emissions, they present several significant challenges and limitations. Discussions highlighted several of these, including risks of non-permanence, unresolved questions around carbon accounting under the GHG Protocol, and weak business cases for commodity buyers to invest in specific farms when their supply bases are dynamic.
3. A land use-driven climate transition needs broad support
Climate change is a big problem that requires big solutions. As such, many companies are nervous: they are afraid to set targets and commitments that they might not meet, afraid of ESG backlash, or afraid of disclosing information that might put them in the crosshairs of advocacy groups or legal action. This was clear in several events, including The Nature Conservancy’s session on whether corporate deforestation commitments are truly working where companies and other stakeholders described the challenges they encounter while working towards ambitious sustainability action.
The financial investment cannot be overstated. Companies need support from investors, regulators, and economic incentives from governments at a systemic scale so that their targets can be achieved. The World Bank now estimates that we need 18 times our current level of investment to halve agri-food emissions by 2030 – meaning there is a lot of work to be done.
The AFi is looking forward to seeing how these conversations develop at CBD COP16 and UNFCCC COP29 later this year.