Event Recording

Organizers

Background

About us: The Economic and Policy Analysis of Climate Change (EPIC) programme of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Agrifood Economics Division (ESA), was created to fill the gap between research and action in the interactions between climate change, agriculture, and food security. We work with governments, research centers, universities, and other institutional partners to build evidence on climate change adaptation and mitigation and food security. We develop and use both ex-ante assessment tools and ex-post impact evaluation methods, to understand synergies and trade-offs between food security, adaptation to and mitigation of climate change.

Context: The Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA) is a landmark decision under the United Nations Framework  Convention  on  Climate  Change  (UNFCCC)  that  recognizes  the  unique  potential  of agriculture in tackling climate change. Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use causes almost one-quarter of human greenhouse gas emissions. The KJWA acknowledges that, while agriculture is part of the climate change problem, it also has a significant role as part of the solution, with a potential to provide up to 30 percent of the mitigation required to ensure global warming stays below 1.5 degrees towards 2050Almost all (95 percent) new/updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) include mitigation in the agriculture and/or Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector.  

The success of policy and management for climate mitigation in agriculture is partially dependent on the availability of consistent and accessible decision-support tools to public and private stakeholders. The EX-Ante Carbon-balance Tool (EX-ACT) is a decision support and engagement tool that enables users ranging from farmers to financial institutions and policy makers to measure their greenhouse gas emissions, and understand mitigation options in agricultural, forestry, and other land-use (AFOLU) investments and activities. Developed by FAO - EPIC, EX-ACT is scientifically grounded, based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) methodology for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventories and other peer reviewed scientific literature covering the entire agriculture sector including Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU), inland and coastal wetlands, fisheries and aquaculture, agriculture inputs, and infrastructure. It is user friendly and freely available. 

This event showcased experiences from 500+ project-level GHG assessments conducted using the EX-ACT tool across 100+ countries that cumulatively accounted for 27 billion USD in investments and an estimated mitigation potential of 4 billion tCO2-eq on 172 million hectares of land. The event raised awareness on how EX-ACT tool plays a key role in empowering and enabling users across local, regional, and global scales, both within public and private sectors to make informed decisions that maximize synergies and minimize trade-offs between climate change mitigation and food security and optimize agriculture's contribution towards climate action.  

Objectives

• Sharing  our  work  on  enabling climate action through  development  of  EX-ACT  tool  and empowering wide range of stakeholders including farmers, private sector, financial institutions, and governments for action towards mitigation in agriculture. 
• Highlighting experiences and insights from 500+ project level GHG assessments across 100+ countries and training 2500+ individuals to share how EX-ACT is helping tackle climate mitigation through strategic and diverse partnerships. 
• Raising awareness and encouraging knowledge development to implement climate-friendly agriculture actions.  

Structure

Video: EX-ACT Tool

Video: Experiences and insights from using EX-ACT tool 

Key Outcomes

• To limit global warming, we need practical actions on the ground. A key part of making those actions happen is to ensure the right evidence and support are available at the right time. All stakeholders are part of the solution to the climate crisis.
• Empowering all stakeholders in conducting systematic carbon accounting is key to ensure that all actions, those climate-oriented or not (such as food security or adaptation actions) contribute to climate change mitigation. The EX-ACT tool provides the right evidence to identify synergies and trade-offs of different actions, while the EX-ACT team provides the training on the use of the tool, which is tailored to the needs of the various stakeholders.
• While there is a general optimism towards the active role that the AFOLU sector can play in the climate crisis, the public agrees that climate benefits are achievable only through the right knowledge sharing and empowerment of all levels of society.