It’s no surprise that growing, processing, packaging and distributing enough food to feed billions of people takes considerable energy and resources. According to scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, nearly 24% of greenhouse gases produced by humans annually can be tied back to our global food system and deforestation.
Reducing emissions at scale has to be the food industry’s number one priority. But it’s only part of the solution. Our approaches to agriculture, forestry and land use hold the potential for some of the most important solutions to climate change. Given that emissions can be pulled out of the atmosphere by soils, forests and oceans, it’s critical that we protect these natural ecosystems and invest in food production and agricultural practices that can help restore nature by increasing biodiversity to actively capture carbon through soils and vegetation.
Last modified: May 19, 2026
