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Over the next two weeks, government, industry, non-profit, and activism leaders will meet in the United Arab Emirates for the world’s foremost annual international climate conference, the Conference of Parties (COP). COP28 is the 28th conference of the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC), where the world assesses its progress on combating climate change and sets priorities for the upcoming year.
Joining the conversation from December 8th-11th is our very own COP28 delegation:
Aidan Reilly, Head of Partnerships - aidan.reilly@farmlinkproject.org
Julia DeSantis, Head of Sustainability & Development Coordinator- julia.desantis@farmlinkproject.org
Owen Dubeck, Creative Director- owen.dubeck@farmlinkproject.org
On the ground at COP28:
We are at COP28 to share our story and highlight the critical role of food loss and waste (FLW) reduction in addressing waste, greenhouse gas emissions, and hunger. Joining NOW Partners—a coalition of companies and financial institutions committed to sustainability—we are proud to advocate for a more equitable and sustainable food system and represent food recovery as a mitigation solution.
Find us at the Future Economy Forum Pavilion on December 11th where we will present our award-winning documentary, Abundance.
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Learn more
As a food recovery organization, Farmlink is uniquely positioned to equitably provide nutritious food at zero cost while preventing harmful methane emissions, creating value across multiple SDGs.
What’s going on with methane at COP 28?:
Methane—the principal greenhouse gas created by FLW—is 81x more powerful than CO2 over a 20 year time period. Cutting methane emissions is a key agenda item at COP28 and has been highlighted by the EDF as the single fastest method to reduce climate change. COP28 is a “stocktake” of the progress made on the Global Methane Pledge, a commitment made by over 150 countries to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30 percent by 2030.
COP28 represents a crucial opportunity to increase the global focus on methane and its role in food system transformation. While methane accounts for a third of human-caused global warming, only 2% of climate funding focuses on methane solution and only 21 countries have included plans to reduce FLW in their climate plans.
At COP28, Farmlink will emphasize FLW reduction as an immediately practical, yet grossly underdeveloped solution for cutting methane emissions and taking action to cool the planet. We’re hopeful as we join our partners in creating global awareness of the manifold benefits of food recovery.
Our desired outcomes for COP28:
- Establish that Farmlink is a pragmatic, fundable, scalable and critical solution that feeds people and fights climate change.
- The US includes FLW solutions into its national climate plans.
- Increased climate financing allocated to transforming food systems at scale, reducing food insecurity, food waste, and associated methane emissions.
- Investments to link disconnected food banks and hunger fighting networks as reliable pathways to prevent food waste emissions and address gaps in food access networks.
Check back for updates, and find us in Dubai from December 8th-11th!
These changes are great. But how’s it all going to be funded?
During the comment process, Farmlink, as well as other food rescue organizations and coalitions, raised critical questions about how the strategy would be funded and, as a result, which measures are feasible. In particular, we hoped for more clarity beyond the draft’s statement that the USDA would use American Rescue Plan Act and Inflation Reduction Act funds and the EPA would use Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds. Of the 86 programs or initiatives reviewed in the final strategy, only 15 are completely new programs announced in the strategy.
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The other 71 are existing programs or initiatives that either already have a food loss and waste focus or that the national strategy has repackaged as food loss and waste solutions. While we had hopes of new, innovative programs being included in the strategy, the good news with these 71 programs is that most, if not all, are already funded, meaning that they are not reliant on an increasingly turbulent Congress for implementation. Of the 15 new programs, which included the EPA’s new consumer education campaign and several new cooperative agreements with land-grant universities, only 2 had specific funding mechanisms. It has become increasingly clear that food rescue organizations and other stakeholders in the food and agriculture space should not consider this strategy as a new rollout of FLW solutions, programs, and funding but rather as an evaluation of the current resources and solutions and how each can be most effectively utilized to achieve the strategy’s goals. In particular, the framing of many of USDA’s programs as FLW solutions offers opportunities to utilize existing funding, data, and infrastructure to solve one of the United States’s most pressing problems.
Whats next?
Now that we have the strategy, it’s time to truly take advantage of the opportunities it presents. In the immediate future at Farmlink, we’re excited to continue optimizing Section 32 as a critical on-farm food loss solution as we anticipate significant surplus recoveries in the fall. As we move forward, we continue to advocate for dignity with food distribution, emphasizing cultural appropriateness and quality in every pound of food we rescue. As outlined in our comments, food rescue organizations are critical stakeholders and thought partners for the agencies. Our inclusion in the strategy as such is an opportunity we are taking full advantage of to help guide federal action to support farmers, feed communities, and heal the planet.
< BackOver the next two weeks, government, industry, non-profit, and activism leaders will meet in the United Arab Emirates for the world’s foremost annual international climate conference, the Conference of Parties (COP). COP28 is the 28th conference of the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC), where the world assesses its progress on combating climate change and sets priorities for the upcoming year.
Joining the conversation from December 8th-11th is our very own COP28 delegation:
Aidan Reilly, Head of Partnerships - aidan.reilly@farmlinkproject.org
Julia DeSantis, Head of Sustainability & Development Coordinator- julia.desantis@farmlinkproject.org
Owen Dubeck, Creative Director- owen.dubeck@farmlinkproject.org
On the ground at COP28:
We are at COP28 to share our story and highlight the critical role of food loss and waste (FLW) reduction in addressing waste, greenhouse gas emissions, and hunger. Joining NOW Partners—a coalition of companies and financial institutions committed to sustainability—we are proud to advocate for a more equitable and sustainable food system and represent food recovery as a mitigation solution.
Find us at the Future Economy Forum Pavilion on December 11th where we will present our award-winning documentary, Abundance.
Learn more
As a food recovery organization, Farmlink is uniquely positioned to equitably provide nutritious food at zero cost while preventing harmful methane emissions, creating value across multiple SDGs.
What’s going on with methane at COP 28?:
Methane—the principal greenhouse gas created by FLW—is 81x more powerful than CO2 over a 20 year time period. Cutting methane emissions is a key agenda item at COP28 and has been highlighted by the EDF as the single fastest method to reduce climate change. COP28 is a “stocktake” of the progress made on the Global Methane Pledge, a commitment made by over 150 countries to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30 percent by 2030.
COP28 represents a crucial opportunity to increase the global focus on methane and its role in food system transformation. While methane accounts for a third of human-caused global warming, only 2% of climate funding focuses on methane solution and only 21 countries have included plans to reduce FLW in their climate plans.
At COP28, Farmlink will emphasize FLW reduction as an immediately practical, yet grossly underdeveloped solution for cutting methane emissions and taking action to cool the planet. We’re hopeful as we join our partners in creating global awareness of the manifold benefits of food recovery.
Our desired outcomes for COP28:
- Establish that Farmlink is a pragmatic, fundable, scalable and critical solution that feeds people and fights climate change.
- The US includes FLW solutions into its national climate plans.
- Increased climate financing allocated to transforming food systems at scale, reducing food insecurity, food waste, and associated methane emissions.
- Investments to link disconnected food banks and hunger fighting networks as reliable pathways to prevent food waste emissions and address gaps in food access networks.
Check back for updates, and find us in Dubai from December 8th-11th!
Why we’re at COP28.
Over the next two weeks, government, industry, non-profit, and activism leaders will meet in the United Arab Emirates for the world’s foremost annual international climate conference, the Conference of Parties (COP). COP28 is the 28th conference of the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC), where the world assesses its progress on combating climate change and sets priorities for the upcoming year.
Joining the conversation from December 8th-11th is our very own COP28 delegation:
Aidan Reilly, Head of Partnerships - aidan.reilly@farmlinkproject.org
Julia DeSantis, Head of Sustainability & Development Coordinator- julia.desantis@farmlinkproject.org
Owen Dubeck, Creative Director- owen.dubeck@farmlinkproject.org
On the ground at COP28:
We are at COP28 to share our story and highlight the critical role of food loss and waste (FLW) reduction in addressing waste, greenhouse gas emissions, and hunger. Joining NOW Partners—a coalition of companies and financial institutions committed to sustainability—we are proud to advocate for a more equitable and sustainable food system and represent food recovery as a mitigation solution.
Find us at the Future Economy Forum Pavilion on December 11th where we will present our award-winning documentary, Abundance.
Learn more
As a food recovery organization, Farmlink is uniquely positioned to equitably provide nutritious food at zero cost while preventing harmful methane emissions, creating value across multiple SDGs.
What’s going on with methane at COP 28?:
Methane—the principal greenhouse gas created by FLW—is 81x more powerful than CO2 over a 20 year time period. Cutting methane emissions is a key agenda item at COP28 and has been highlighted by the EDF as the single fastest method to reduce climate change. COP28 is a “stocktake” of the progress made on the Global Methane Pledge, a commitment made by over 150 countries to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30 percent by 2030.
COP28 represents a crucial opportunity to increase the global focus on methane and its role in food system transformation. While methane accounts for a third of human-caused global warming, only 2% of climate funding focuses on methane solution and only 21 countries have included plans to reduce FLW in their climate plans.
At COP28, Farmlink will emphasize FLW reduction as an immediately practical, yet grossly underdeveloped solution for cutting methane emissions and taking action to cool the planet. We’re hopeful as we join our partners in creating global awareness of the manifold benefits of food recovery.
Our desired outcomes for COP28:
- Establish that Farmlink is a pragmatic, fundable, scalable and critical solution that feeds people and fights climate change.
- The US includes FLW solutions into its national climate plans.
- Increased climate financing allocated to transforming food systems at scale, reducing food insecurity, food waste, and associated methane emissions.
- Investments to link disconnected food banks and hunger fighting networks as reliable pathways to prevent food waste emissions and address gaps in food access networks.
Check back for updates, and find us in Dubai from December 8th-11th!
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