Eat less meat: Will the first global climate food deal work?

Last week, at the start of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, 134 countries signed a declaration pledging to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from processes related to food production and consumption.

It is the first time in nearly three decades of climate summits, which have been established to set the world's direction in the fight against climate change, that the importance of food systems has been recognized in this way. For the first time, on December 10, COP28 will dedicate one day to discussing ways to reduce emissions from food and agriculture.

Many welcomed these steps. "It's great to finally have food on the COP menu," says Clement Metivier, a climate and biodiversity policy expert at the World Wide Fund for Nature in the UK, who is attending COP28. “There is real momentum around transforming food systems to address both biodiversity and the climate crisis.” But equally, the researchers say, not enough is being done to reduce emissions in one of the world's largest, largely unaddressed sources – and that will require tough policy decisions. (Carissa Wong)