On the menu at COP31: Greener farms, steadier food supplies, healthier people

The pressure on the global food system is mounting

For the first time in history, delegates arriving at COP will face the urgent task of limiting the extent and duration of a 1.5°C “overshoot”. Greening food systems – which account for one-third of global emissions – will be key, alongside protecting the livelihoods of the world’s 570 million smallholder farmers.

Droughts have battered harvests from the Sahel to Bolivia. Some 2.1 billion people face food insecurity and 266 million people face acute hunger – even as over 40% of food produced is lost or wasted. Meanwhile, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has spiked fuel and fertilizer prices, with food costs expected to rise 18% cumulatively in 2027.

“Now more than ever, the climate crisis and its causes are on every kitchen table, hitting every economy and population hard,” said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell as COP31 opened.

The COP31 Presidency is aiming to tackle parts of that challenge through the Turquoise Nexus Initiative launching tomorrow. It is built to pull today’s food and agriculture wins into a single push, bridging food systems governance, water resource management and climate policy. Led by Türkiye’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and proposed as a flagship programme of FAST Partnership convened by FAO, the initiative will help countries share what works and turn projects into bankable investments. It will also draw on Türkiye’s own track record: large-scale irrigation modernization, national drought early-warning systems and drought-resistant crop programmes.

Which brings us to some of the top Action Agenda announcements landing at COP31:

The race to make fertilizer without fossil fuels

The devil is in the details, or perhaps in this case, in the details of the Belém Declaration on Fertilisers launched at COP30, which were specific enough for companies and industry leaders to accelerate implementation in the past year. Today, the declaration partners – Brazil, the UK, Japan, and Canada – are announcing a new action plan, delivered through an Action Agenda plan to scale up green fertilizers. It focuses on cutting nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas, and drawing more investment into clean fertilizer production.

The announcement comes amid a record year for investment in clean industry projects. Thirty-six commercial-scale clean industrial plants reached final investment decision in the past 12 months, according to new data for COP31 by the Mission Possible Partnership. Nearly a quarter include clean ammonia projects, the essential input for green fertilizer. Made with hydrogen from renewables instead of fossil fuels, green ammonia offers a way to decarbonize fertilizer production, which is currently responsible for 2% of global emissions. Currently, the global green ammonia fertilizer market is projected to grow from USD 2.8 billion in 2025 to USD 4 billion by 2031.

For the first time, emerging economies across the industrial sunbelt have outpaced developed economies, securing USD 5.3 billion for six large-scale plants this year. The projects include the first commercial-scale green fertilizer facilities in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa.

But the investment case goes beyond emissions. Fertilizer production is highly concentrated across some 500 large-scale facilities, many dependent on imported fossil fuels. Disruption to fuel and fertilizer supply chains has exposed how quickly geopolitical tensions can affect stockpiles and prices.

Kenya, for example, is heavily reliant on fertilizer imports for its domestic maize production, with at least 26% of its supply passing through the Strait of Hormuz. KenGen and Kaishan’s new plant at Olkaria in the Rift Valley will run on low-cost geothermal power, and is expected to produce between 200,000 and 300,000 tonnes of fertilizer annually, primarily for domestic agriculture. It could give Kenyan farmers a more reliable supply at more stable prices, and help keep maize, the country’s staple, within reach for families who depend on it.

Regenerative farming spreads across 66 million hectares

If green fertilizers change what goes onto the field, regenerative agriculture is about transforming the field itself and stabilizing long-term global food supplies. New COP31 figures show major companies now doing that at scale.

Partners in the Action Agenda on Regenerative Landscapes (AARL) now have 66 million hectares in active regenerative programmes, roughly the size of France. The initiative was launched at COP28 and spans 90 commodities – like soy, corn, livestock, sorghum and palm – and 116 countries.

In a single year, the share of committed land covered by active programmes rose from 50% to 70%. Nearly USD 2.3 billion has already been deployed, while 60% of participating companies expanded their programmes in 2026.

Through the AARL, companies are also getting better at measuring what happens on the ground. Among major food and beverage companies involved, including Danone, Nestlé, PepsiCo and FrieslandCampina, the share monitoring carbon outcomes on farms rose from 68% to 86% in the past year. Soil-health monitoring increased from 53% to 71%, while water monitoring climbed from 52% to 71%.

For food companies, the appeal is increasingly practical. Global food demand is expected to rise by more than 70% by 2050, while soil degradation, water stress and extreme weather threaten the farms that supply the world's biggest food companies. For companies reliant on agricultural commodities, investing in healthier farmland is increasingly a way to protect future food supplies.

From school canteens to supermarket shelves: healthy, low-carbon food is moving from pledge to plate

As pressure grows to cut food-system emissions without compromising nutrition, food providers are also shifting what they put on the table. Cities participating in the Coolfood Pledge – part of an Action Agenda plan to accelerate healthy, sustainable diets – have cut per-plate food emissions by 37%, well ahead of the pace needed to meet its 2030 target. That includes cutting the share of beef and lamb in their purchases by 69%, more than any other sector.

New York City’s public schools have cut the carbon footprint of their meals by 38.9% since 2019, while serving free meals to more than one million students each day. The city developed more than 100 plant-forward recipes, each requiring at least 70% approval in student taste tests before making it onto the menu.

An increase in plant-based diets can be an effective climate mitigation solution. If everyone in high- and middle-income countries reduced their beef consumption to once a week annual greenhouse gas emissions could fall by 2.8 gigatons – equivalent to removing roughly 600 million gasoline-powered passenger vehicles from the road for an entire year.

Large, reliable orders from schools and other institutions can create markets for plant-rich meals while giving farmers an incentive to adopt more sustainable practices. The Rockefeller Foundation backed that approach last year through a USD 100 million commitment to reach 100 million students, and connect school kitchens with farmers adopting regenerative agriculture. Through one project, 10 school gardens were set up that harvested 3.6 tonnes of vegetables, enough for roughly 45,000 school meal portions.

At COP31, delegates will get a taste of what sustainable food systems can deliver. Instituto Regenera and Comida do Amanhã have partnered with the COP31 Presidency to help provide healthy, low-carbon meals for more than 30,000 attendees, while directing payments to small-scale food producers in Türkiye. The approach has already been put to the test. For example, last year in Belém, the partnership’s staff canteen served around 87,500 meals, with 70% of its food sourced from 37 local family farms and community groups. That was more than double the official 30% target and generated an estimated USD 115,000 for those producers. The initiative forms part of a new Action Agenda effort to bring governments’ food and climate policies into closer alignment.

Health funders put USD 225 million to work, and add USD 150 million as Belém Health Action Plan advances delivery

One year after pledging USD 300 million at COP30, the Climate & Health Funders Coalition has awarded more than USD 225 million to 20 programmes tackling heat, air pollution, climate-sensitive diseases and health data. Today, it announced another USD 150 million from new and existing funders, bringing total commitments to USD 450 million. Its backers include the Gates Foundation, Wellcome and The Rockefeller Foundation.

The Coalition launched last year alongside the Belém Health Action Plan (BHAP) and many of its grants support the plan's goals. One priority is helping health systems see climate threats coming. With Coalition support, DHIS2, the disease-tracking software used by health systems in more than 70 countries, has begun integrating weather and climate data into its platform. Officials in 10 countries can now see how heat and rainfall shape disease patterns and prepare for outbreaks.

Beyond the Coalition's investments, the BHAP is also gaining traction a year after its launch. On the ground, Brazil's AESOP early-warning tool has helped identify and prevent more than 80 disease outbreaks, with alerts reaching 4 million people. Meanwhile, WHO–WMO Climate–Health Desks, which connect weather data to health warnings, launched in Africa and South Asia earlier this year.

The COP31 Presidency is building on this momentum, with a real commitment to people-centered climate action. Its Antalya Initiative for Health Resilience, launching today, will help countries exchange best practices on preparing health systems for extreme heat and spotting disease outbreaks sooner.

The next step is mobilizing more financing. Developing countries will need about USD 23 billion a year for health adaptation by 2035. International public finance covers about 10%, and health gets 5% of international public adaptation funding.

A new Financing Framework also launching today by BHAP partners hopes to change that. It provides a costed plan for health resilience, giving investors a clearer path to putting more money to work. The Financing Framework sets milestones through COP33 in 2028, feeding into the second Global Stocktake.

For media enquiries please contact: christineluby@climatechampions.team and guilhermelarsen@climatechampions.team.