World Bank calls for shift in subsidies towards low-emission foods

WORLD – The World Bank is urging countries to reallocate their subsidies away from livestock farming and towards low-emission products, advocating for greater adoption of alternative proteins to secure the planet’s future.

Highlighting plant-based meat, cultivated foods, and other protein sources as innovative technologies, the World Bank underscores the need for increased research and development spending to maximize their potential in emissions reduction.

The World Bank’s “Recipe for a Livable Planet” report, its first comprehensive global strategic framework to mitigate the food system’s contribution to climate change while safeguarding food security, outlines three key benefits of such actions. 

The global financial institution is recommending a redirection of subsidies from red meat and dairy towards lower-emission foods such as fruits, vegetables, and poultry.

It emphasizes that alternative proteins like plant-based, cultivated, and fermentation-derived options present a low-cost, highly effective solution for mitigating global heating.

Diversifying protein supplies through research and development, plant-based alternatives, and insect protein is deemed one of the most cost-effective strategies for reducing the food system’s climate footprint.

Currently, the world is on track to surpass temperature rises of 3.2°C since pre-industrial levels, which could have catastrophic effects on the planet.

However, the agrifood sector remains largely untapped as a source of affordable climate action, with the potential to reduce a third of all emissions (approximately 16 gigatonnes annually) through readily available tools.

Axel van Trotsenburg, senior managing director for development policy and partnerships at the World Bank, emphasizes the urgent need for transformation in food production and consumption to protect the planet.

He notes that agricultural emissions surpass those from heat and electricity and must reach net zero by 2050 to meet the 1.5°C goal set out in the Paris Agreement.

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