Climate change is a global challenge that requires comprehensive and cross-sectoral action, including across agrifood systems. Such action needs to be taken in full consideration of international goals and agreements, such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its universally agreed Sustainable Development Goals, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and the Paris Agreement. It also needs to be rooted in the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. To accelerate its contribution towards the 2030 Agenda, FAO has, within its mandate and comparative advantages, developed a new Strategy on Climate Change (SCC) for the next ten years. The SCC echoes the recognition of the Paris Agreement of the fundamental priority of safeguarding food security and ending hunger. It presents the role of agrifood systems as part of the solution to climate change and seeks complementarities with the missions of other organizations and related agreements. The urgency to act on climate change impacts on agrifood systems has never been clearer, as indicated by the latest reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Agrifood systems must become more resilient to the current and future impacts of climate change, learning from good practices to promote transformative adaptation policies, plans and actions. The Paris Agreement calls for holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above preindustrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. This necessitates rapid, deep and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions, including from agrifood systems. Climate action in a coherent manner, as appropriate, in accordance with and dependent on national contexts and capacities through agrifood systems offers considerable potential to maximise co-benefits of adaptation and mitigation, while achieving other Sustainable Development Goals. FAO seeks to enhance its support to Members in their efforts with respect to climate change adaptation and mitigation, working towards climate-resilient and low-emission agrifood systems while striving to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular eradicating hunger and malnutrition. Climate action at global, regional, national and local levels across agrifood systems is fundamental to their transformation in a coherent manner according to, and dependent on, national contexts and capacities, including for the pursuit of other environmental, social and economic objectives.

Based on the FAO Members’ request at the 166th Session of the Council for “inclusive consultations ahead of the 168th Session of the Council to start the development of the new FAO Strategy on Climate Change” and the support expressed by Members at the 168th Session of the Council for the outline and roadmap of the Strategy, FAO has developed the new SCC through an inclusive and consultative process engaging FAO Members, FAO experts at headquarters and regional, subregional and country offices, and external partners. The SCC builds on the FAO Strategy on Climate Change published in 2017, is aligned with and contributes to the implementation of the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31, reflecting FAO’s vision of a world free from hunger and malnutrition where food and agriculture contribute to improving the living standards of all, especially the poorest, in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner. The principles guiding the SCC and FAO’s climate action emphasize inclusiveness, innovation, partnerships, science and evidence as well as the “no-onesize-fits-all” and system-oriented approaches, with farmers, livestock keepers, fishers, aquaculturists, forest-dependent people, food value chain workers, Indigenous Peoples, youth, women and their groups, and people in vulnerable situations placed at the centre. In FAO’s vision for the SCC: Agrifood systems are sustainable, inclusive, resilient and adaptive to climate change and its impacts and contribute to low-emission economies while providing sufficient, safe and nutritious foods for healthy diets, as well as other agricultural products and services, for present and future generations, leaving no one behind. The SCC action is organized under three Pillars focusing on action at: I Global and regional levels: Strengthening global and regional climate policy and governance; II Country level: Developing countries’ capacities for climate action; and III Local level: Scaling up climate action on the ground. The SCC is operationalized through a regularly reviewed Action Plan with targets, indicators, timelines, responsibilities and a tracking process, including plans for capacity development, resource mobilization and communication. The implementation of the SCC will seek multistakeholder partnerships, including with Rome-based Agencies and other United Nations agencies, financial institutions and the private sector, as well as by means of instruments such as South-South and Triangular Cooperation.