The United Nations Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27) offered an opportunity to show the world that Dairy is part of the solution to climate change by demonstrating how the sector is reducing its impacts on GHG emissions, water and land use, and optimizing its positive contribution on nutrition, soils and ecosystems.

IDF and GDP members and experts spoke at 14 events to share dairy’s commitments to comply with the goals of the Paris Agreement and the progress underway by the global Pathways to Dairy Net Zero P2DNZ initiative. They included:

• Nov 9: Lesson from different mitigation areas: case studies on research and tools to quantify emissions and mitigation strategies in the dairy sector; FAO Pavilion
• Nov 10: Climate Smart and Sustainable Dairy Production; Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA)
• Nov 10: Triangular Cooperation: Innovative Climate-Smart Solutions; FAO Pavilion
• Nov 10: COP27 Reception convened by U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and IICA
• Nov 11: The global dairy sector’s climate ambition and progress towards achievement of the Paris Agreement; official COP27 side event
• Nov 11: Progress Toward Pathways to Dairy Net Zero; FAO Pavilion
• Nov 12: Climate action progress in the dairy sector; International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) “Make Climate Action Everyone’s Business” Platform
• Nov 12: Driving transformational change in agriculture and food security; Green Climate Fund/Global Environmental Facility Pavilion
• Nov 12: Healthy Planet and Healthy People – Dairy Net Zero, A Call for Action; Sweden Pavilion
• Nov 12: Accelerating on-farm adoption of enteric emissions solutions; Sweden Pavilion
• Nov 12: How can the dairy sector contribute to a resilient food system in East Africa?; Food Systems Pavilion
• Nov 14: Reducing methane emissions in agriculture; Chile Pavilion
• Nov 15: Biomethane as a lever of decarbonization; ICC Pavilion
• Nov 18: Pathways to Low-Emission and Resilient Livestock Agri-food Systems in Africa; Africa Pavilion

Other COP27 dairy engagements included:

• Agricultural Negotiations: Dairy took a leadership role in coordinating the Business and Industry Group (BINGO) engagement in the Agriculture Negotiations. Including delivering the opening statements on behalf of BINGO supporting the continuation of the negotiations on agriculture, as well as developing position statements delivered throughout the negotiations and reporting progress to the BINGO community at daily briefing sessions hosted by the International Chamber of Commerce.

The country negotiators (Parties) agreed on a COP decision that reported on the outcome of the work done by UNFCCC in 2018-2022 and established a four-year program that will be known as the Sharm el-Sheikh: Joint Work on Implementation of Climate Action on Agriculture and Food Security. The decision recognizes the vulnerabilities of livestock production to climate change and that sustainably managed livestock systems play an essential role in safeguarding food and nutrition security, livelihoods, sustainability, nutrient cycling, and carbon management. The document also recognizes the potential of the livestock sector through actions such as sequestration on grazing land and improved animal health to reduce greenhouse gases emissions in support of long-term climate objectives. The new joint work aims to coordinate climate action in agriculture and provide support and technical advice to UNFCCC parties and bodies while enhancing research and development in the field.

• Agriculture and Adaptation Day: November 12 was the first ever Agriculture and Adaptation Day at COP. In addition to a full day of programming in plenary, there were an unprecedented number of agriculture events in five food-focused Pavilions in the days leading up to November 12.

• FAST: The Egyptian Presidency and FAO formally launched the Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation (FAST) initiative to create a platform to help agriculture and food get access to climate finance, technology, capacity building and policy.

• Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (Aim4Climate): Aim4Climate was heavily featured throughout the COP and received high-profile attention during the plenary session with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announcing a major conference in Washington, DC, next year on AIM4Climate. As UAE is a founding partner with the U.S. and UN Foundation on Aim4Climate, it is expected that this will gain momentum heading to COP28 in Dubai. Pathways to Dairy Net Zero is an AIM4Climate Sprint Initiative.

• I-CAN Initiative: The Egyptian COP27 Presidency launched the Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition (I-CAN) on Agriculture and Adaptation Day. The I-CAN Initiative will connect actions to accelerate progress in both climate (mitigation and adaptation) and nutrition, monitor progress, and provide technical support to member states.

• Bilaterals: With COP’s increased focus on Agriculture, P2DNZ generated a lot of interest. As a result, the dairy sector held more than 35 bi-lateral meetings with representatives from governments, financial institutions, inter-governmental organizations, private sector, academia and NGO’s.

Dairy’s sustainability story was heard at COP27 thanks to the strong participation of farmers, companies and industry organizations. We look forward to building on this momentum at COP28 in Dubai where food, agriculture and livestock will again be on the agenda.

For more information: https://fil-idf.org/dairys-global-impact/dairy-sustainability-outlook/ and https://pathwaystodairynetzero.org/