Promoting smart-climate agriculture and food systems innovation

Supported by the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, this premier global event, exclusively for AIM for Climate partners, will provide a game-changing platform to raise ambition, build collaborations, and share knowledge on innovative solutions in the lead-up to COP28 in the United Arab Emirates.

This event brings together policymakers, industry leaders, producers, civil society groups, and scientists and researchers worldwide to drive rapid and transformative climate action.

AIM for Climate Summit highlights includes “Call to Action: Uniting Global Venture Investment in Support of Climate-Smart Agricultural Innovation”.  AIM for Climate announced a “Call to Action” at COP27 to unite the global venture investment community with a mission to encourage increased investments in climate-smart agricultural innovation by funding start-ups, early-stage, and emerging companies that help to advance climate solutions. Recognizing the important role of the venture community, angel investors, venture capital, venture debt, corporate venture capital, family, foundation and institutional seed investors can play an important role to simultaneously tackle the challenges of global hunger, food insecurity, and climate change.

The summit also mentions “Leveraging the Power of AI and Machine-Learning”; “Government Partner Ministerial”, where government partners are invited to make announcements in support of AIM for Climate to include increased investments in climatesmart agriculture and food systems innovation. “Engaging breakout sessions highlighting new investments, partnerships and progress”; “Interactive exhibit hall to make climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation tangible and hands-on” and “Wider Activities”.

Secretary of USDA Tom Vilsack shared that the Summit is a premier global event “for the partners, by the partners” that will provide a game-changing platform for AIM for Climate partners to raise ambition and amplify their work in climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation.

Former Vice President of the US AI Gore affirmed that the climate crisis is the fossil fuel crisis. And the first job must be reducing the production and use of fossil fuels, thereby cutting emissions.

“If farmers are going to contribute to removing carbon from the atmosphere, they are compensated for it. But compensating farmers for that test really requires getting a measurement system. If we have a degree of reliance ability and confidence, we can measure how much soil carbon is being built up by farmers. We can pay them for that, just the same way we see carbon credit here and there. That’s real sequestration. And so the research innovation that we focus on the smart farm is to rapidly improve the ways accurately measure soil carbon built-up”, said Former Vice President of the US AI Gore.

Gore also cited the top four solutions from The 2022 International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) report to adress the climate crisis including solar – the first solution. The second one is to halt the destruction of wild areas and forest land, which now services carbon sink. 79% of the increase in cropland is coming from the invasion of the rainforest and protected areas. The third is wind and the fourth is soil carbon sequestration through agriculture.

The Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate / AIM4C) is a joint initiative by the United States and the United Arab Emirates. The initiative was established in 2021, being formally launched at COP26 in Glasgow, UK, on 2nd November 2021. AIM for Climate is currently supported by over 275 governmental and non-governmental partners, comprising governments, businesses, academia, non-profit foundations and think tanks. Participation is voluntary.

The goal of AIM for Climate is to address climate change and global hunger by uniting participants to significantly increase investment in, and other support for, climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation over five years (2021 – 2025).

With the support of the government and non-government partners, AIM for Climate announced at COP27 a doubling of investment for the period 2021-2025 of more than $8 billion, up from $4 billion at COP26.