COP30 Urged to Deliver Action on Sustainable Food Systems

Delegates met at the Global Climate-Smart Agriculture Conference in Brasília before the COP30 climate talks.

The language of agricultural sustainability shifts like the seasons—from “climate-smart” to “regenerative,” “agroecological,” and “nature-positive.” Each term reflects good intentions, but the growing list risks duplication, confusion and delays.

The recent CSA Conference in Brasília brought together leaders from policy, science and finance ahead of COP30 to focus not on buzzwords, but on the shared foundations of sustainable food systems—an even more urgent task in today’s increasingly fragile world. Despite differing theories of change, many approaches share core principles: soil health, crop innovation, inclusive finance and resilient livestock production.

During the COP30 climate negotiations, progress will depend on recognising that climate action and livelihood protection must advance together. Leaders must measure success not only by reduced emissions, but also by improvements in quality of life supported by a thriving and resilient rural economy. With Brazil’s COP presidency determined to translate agreements into real-world action, the challenge now is to adopt and advance context-specific solutions in pursuit of a shared goal.

Currently, fragmentation continues to divide institutions, donors, NGOs and producers, with competing ideologies slowing progress at the speed and scale required. For instance, while many organisations support regenerative agriculture, others champion sustainable intensification or climate-smart agriculture. Yet several practices, such as agroforestry, fit within all these concepts.

The Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA), established before COP26, has since been replaced by the Sharm el-Sheikh Joint Work on Agriculture and Food Security. Still, farmers are waiting for clear national strategies to emerge from years of workshops and working papers. Although the principles behind these programmes are sound, they have not generated the required pace of action.

In contrast, the six CSA Conference themes—from soil health and crop innovation to finance and policy—offer a foundational framework around which broad agreement already exists. These themes also align with Brazil’s Action Agenda and the ABC+ Plan, highlighting practical areas of consensus.

Brazil’s experience provides concrete examples of how shared priorities can shift from discussion to delivery. The ABC+ Plan (2020–2030) forms the backbone of the country’s low-carbon agriculture strategy, integrating sustainable practices such as no-till farming, pasture recovery and biological nitrogen fixation into a coherent national system. It contributes directly to COP30’s Action Agenda on agriculture, turning abstract goals into measurable outcomes.

Building on this foundation, Brazil’s RENOVAGRO provides the financing mechanism that enables implementation of the ABC+ Plan, demonstrating how public policy can mobilise private investment to advance all Action Agenda priorities simultaneously. By linking credit eligibility to verified adoption of low-carbon practices, the programme supports farmers in making transitions that would otherwise remain inaccessible. This proves that progress relies less on new concepts and more on decisive action within systems that already work.

At COP30, the challenge is not to settle on the perfect terminology, but to sustain the right actions—shaped by local needs and available resources. Progress requires scaling what is already proven: effective policies, inclusive finance and resilient food systems that stay within environmental limits. The next phase must prioritise implementation over invention.

Leaders now have an opportunity to move from promises to performance. The task is to scale what already works—delivering proven solutions faster, rather than inventing new concepts.

Brazil’s example demonstrates that integration is more effective than searching for a universal solution. There is no single pathway, only a combination of context-specific approaches supported by diplomacy and sustainable financing.

By focusing on fundamentals, we can avoid paralysis caused by competing definitions and act collectively by applying existing policies and practices in ways that suit local realities.

Ana Maria Loboguerrero, Director, Adaptive and Equitable Food Systems, Gates Foundation

Dhanush Dinesh, Chief Climate Catalyst, Clim-Eat