Achieving the paris agreement goals by transitioning to low-emissions food systems: A comprehensive review of countries’ actions

Abstract

Meeting the 1.5°C Paris Agreement target requires ambitious strategies to transition to low-emissions food systems. This study aimed to identify strategies for reducing food-system greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs), including their co-benefits, tradeoffs, challenges, and opportunities for implementation applied by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Annex I and non-Annex I countries. The study was based on a systematic Scopus database literature review of peer-reviewed papers. PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyse) methodology was used to identify, assess, and select 201 articles related to our research questions. We analyzed data by identifying GHGE-reduction strategies reported for four food-system levels (pre-production, production, supply chain, and consumption) across Annex I and non-Annex I countries. Our findings show that 65 % of the articles published results for Annex I, 19 % for non-Annex I, and 16 % for both Annex I and non-Annex I countries, indicating that food-system GHGE-reduction has gained more attention in Annex I than in non-annex I countries. Among the 94 GHGE-reduction strategies identified applicable to the four food-system levels, dietary changes, such as reducing red meat consumption and restricting 'forest-risk' agricultural commodities were the most reported, particularly in the Global North. The supply-chain level reported the highest number of GHGE-reduction strategies (38), while the pre-production level recorded the lowest (2). The co-benefits, tradeoffs, challenges, and opportunities associated with the GHGE-reduction measures presented were underreported. We conclude that, with increased economic growth, increasing urban populations, and a rising middle class in non-Annex I countries, Annex I GHGE-reduction strategies could also be promoted in non-annex I countries across the Global South or serve as a springboard for those countries that have yet to apply a food-system GHGE-reduction approach.