the inaugural ClimateShot Convention shared insights among allies to inspire collective action on climate-smart AGRICULTURE.

At COP26, the ClimateShot allies were part of a special moment.

200 of them came together behind the Global Action Agenda for Innovation in Agriculture.

20 countries backed the campaign.

30 million people saw the #ClimateShot messages online.

IFAD Goodwill Ambassadors Idris and Sabrina Elba joined Times Radio presenter Aasmah Mir launched the ClimateShot agenda, just as the world’s attention was focused on new ways to drive forward climate action, together for our planet.

Critically, ClimateShot moved to support the #BreakthroughAgenda on agriculture.

As we prepare for COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, later this year, this ClimateShot Convention brought allies together to explore ways to take this transformative agenda forward with bold action, and not just the usual “blah-blah-blah”.

The convention mobilised the alliance to accelerate action ahead of the formal launch of an Agriculture Breakthrough in June 2022, which supports and aligns the ambition of critical international initiatives like the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM4C).

CONVENTION Report available soon

Watch the convention

Agenda (BST)            

13:00 – 13:15

Welcome and scene setting

·       Charlotte Watts, Chief Scientist, FCDO

·       Ed Webber, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS)

·       Juan Lucas Restrepo, Global Director of Partnerships and Advocacy, CGIAR, and Director General of the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)

13:15 – 13:25

Opening presentation: The Agriculture Breakthrough

·       Rachel Lambert, FCDO

13:25 – 13:30

Opportunities to achieve the Breakthrough goal with AIM4Climate

·       Jaime Adams, USDA

13:30 – 14:00

Breakout Group Discussion: Ideas and initiatives to achieve the Breakthrough goal

Group 1: Mobilizing the investment needed for the breakthrough (Dan Haglund, ClimateShot Impact Investment Coalition)

Group 2: Knowledge, capacity and skills for the breakthrough (Andy Jarvis, Climate Change in One CGIAR)

Group 3: National research and innovation systems for the breakthrough (Hayden Montgomery and Marta Alfaro, Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA)

Group 4: Production capacity, supply chains and infrastructure for the breakthrough (Alexia Semov), 100 Million Farmers multi-stakeholder platform)

Group 5: Demand creation and showcasing successful business cases (Susan Chomba, UNFSS coalition on nature-positive innovation)

Guidance:

• The discussion will focus on how Allies and AIM4Climate partners can realize the enabling conditions of the Agriculture Breakthrough working with priority initiatives.

• Facilitators will outline plans of the priority initiatives for 2022–23, in the context of the enabling conditions presented in the opening presentation. The priority initiatives are examples of initiatives working on these specific enabling conditions and serve as a discussion starter to explore the guiding questions below.

• Guiding questions/topics:

  • Reflections on the enabling conditions

  • What should international collaboration support to realize the enabling conditions of the Agriculture Breakthrough?

  • What are people already doing in response to identified barriers/opportunities to enable action?

  • What more should we be doing? What are the opportunities for partnership that the group sees?

14:00 – 14:20

Report back: Elements of the way forward

·       Dan Haglund

·       Andy Jarvis

·       Hayden Montgomery/Marta Alfaro

·       Alexia Semov

·       Susan Chomba/Leanne Zeppenfeldt

14:20 – 14:30

Closing and way forward

·       Dane McQueen, Senior Advisor, UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change

Join this Pre-COP26 official side-event - #All4ClimateItaly - to connect the innovation debate at the UN Food Systems Summit on 23 September with the agenda and ambition of the UN COP26 climate summit in November.

This event is in partnership with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). 

REGISTER HERE

With only a month left to put the transformation of agricultural innovation at the heart of commitment and action at COP26, government, private sector and farmer representatives will come together to discuss outcomes of the UNFSS and the way forward in the lead up to Glasgow.

This event will be an opportunity to discuss the new Global Action Agenda on Agricultural Innovation (aka the #ClimateShot) that will be launched at COP26, and to highlight the key steps stakeholders wish to take individually and collectively to close the agricultural ‘innovation gap’ and reach our ambitions in climate action.

FIND OUT MORE AND REGISTER HERE

To achieve a transformation in food systems under climate change, engagement of young people is crucial. They are the climate generation and are both vulnerable to current and future impacts of climate change, but also offer ways forward as important agents of change in their households, schools, business ventures, communities, countries and regions.

To register for the event, please click here.

Climate change impacts will affect the ability of young women and men to secure livelihoods, incomes and food availability. Engaging youth in long-term adaptation is therefore a key focus of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), the Wageningen University and Research (WUR), the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and the Food Foundation through social learning approaches and platforms and engaging or collaborating with youth organizations.

Linking young people to cutting edge science on climate change, agriculture and food security, we aim to empower youth to take centre stage in development. As a collective force, young people have extraordinary potential to mobilise and influence global movements, which can be initiated in the form of a simple pledge.

The #Act4Food #Ac4Change Youth event: 'Driving global youth action for climate adaptation in food systems' is an official side-event of the ‘Youth4Climate: Driving Ambition’ — a landmark youth event hosted by the Italian Government just prior to Pre-COP26 all4climate2021.org

This event will contribute to Action 4.3, by driving social change and generating social movements by reaching out to youth and encouraging young people to be part of the discussion. Youth from all around the globe are invited to participate and engage in efforts and movements around food security under a changing climate.

This event also aims to create awareness of the Pledge initiative.

Find out more

JOIN US FOR A UN FOOD SYSTEMS SUMMIT SIDE-EVENT

REGISTER HERE

This side-event to the UN Food Systems Summit (taking place on 23 September) is hosted in partnership between the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Columbia Climate School.

Speakers will debate an emerging ‘Action Agenda for Innovation in Agriculture’. 

This event also features as part of the program for Climate Week NYC.

The Climate Group has selected the Columbia Climate School as its university partner for this year’s Climate Week NYC.

Running September 20-26, Climate Week NYC convenes key climate leaders to accelerate climate action and discuss ambitious commitments ahead of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference, or COP26, later this fall in Glasgow.

BACKGROUND

The agricultural sector is not on track to support goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. It's estimated that current agricultural technologies and practices can only deliver less than half of the emissions reductions required from the sector.

An 'innovation gap’ exists in spite of considerable investment into agricultural innovation to achieve food security and enhance the resilience of more than half a billion smallholder farmers on the frontline of climate change.

This is a make-or-break year to secure meaningful commitments in addressing the climate crisis and putting our food systems on a sustainable path before it's too late.

A key part of such a transformation will need a step change in agricultural innovation to support ambitious action. But how can stakeholders across the food system join forces to ensure agricultural innovation contributes to climate mitigation and adaptation and support more resilient communities?

FIND OUT MORE AND REGISTER HERE