Food and Climate Change InfoGuide

DESCRIPTION: The food system contributes more than 30% of the heat-trapping gases emitted by human activities globally each year. If those emissions continue to increase at their current pace, meeting the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C (2.7°F) goal would be impossible even if non-food system emissions fell to zero immediately. Food and climate impacts go both ways. Climate change creates significant risks to the food system, with rising temperatures and changing weather patterns threatening enormous damage to crops, supply chains and livelihoods in the decades ahead. The food system touches everyone. Hundreds of millions of people work in agriculture and other aspects of food production, with the highest percentages in developing countries. More than a billion people, mostly women, prepare food as a central part of everyday activities. Food choices play a central role in human health and culture. This InfoGuide provides background on the food system (Part 1), climate change (Part 2), the impact of the food system on climate change (Part 3) and the impact of climate change on the food system (Part 4). The final section (Part 5) presents strategies for reducing emissions from the food system and improving the resilience of the food system to climate change.