ESG Club
WHY WE NEED A ROADMAP FOR THE GLOBAL AGRICULTURE AND LAND-USE SECTOR
Alexander Burr is ESG policy lead at Legal & General Investment Management. Helena Wright is policy director at the FAIRR Initiative
Existing pathways don’t capture the full complexity of issues facing the agricul- ture and land-use sector. As COP27 approaches, we are calling on policymak- ers and multilaterals, specifically the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), to
develop a based roadmap.
As COP27 draws near, we believe global leaders have an opportunity to build on the IEA’s pioneering roadmap for the energy sector by creating a parallel docu- ment covering another vitally important sector for the transition to net zero: agriculture. Food systems contribute around a third of global greenhouse gas emissions¹, yet efforts to decarbonise the sector have plateaued.
A call for action Recognising the urgency of this issue, global leaders including former secretary general of the United Nations Ban Ki- Moon and former president of Ireland Mary Robinson have now backed calls by a group of investors managing $17trn (£15.2trn) in assets under management for policymakers and multilaterals (name- ly the United Nations FAO), to develop a science-based roadmap² for the global agriculture and land-use sector. This effort has been co-ordinated by FAIRR, a collaborative investor network that LGIM is a member of focusing on ESG risks and opportunities caused by intensive animal production. The IEA’s roadmap touches on
comprehensive, science- Food security
The holistic nature of the challenge facing the agriculture sector has been brought home by the global food crisis, which has demonstrated that climate, nature and nutrition are closely interconnected. More- over, food production relies on climate sta- bility and protection of the ecosystem. The need to develop a sustainable food system is making its way onto the plates of policymakers. President Biden has hosted a special White House conference on nutrition and hunger, the first of its kind for 50 years, and sustainable food was on the agenda at New York Climate Action Week in September. It’s also clear the Egyptian presidency understands the impact climate change is having on the food system, with three separate pavilions dedicated to food and agriculture at COP27.
Antimicrobial resistance
The intensification of the agriculture and land use sector also contributes to the growing threat posed by AMR, which has been identified as a ‘silent pandemic’ by the G7. Livestock today accounts for around 80% of the total use of antibiot- ics⁴, significantly contributing to the AMR crisis.
PI Partnership – Legal & General Investment Management
agricultural emissions, but it does not provide a detailed pathway to a Paris- aligned agriculture and land use sector. While other initiatives like the Glasgow Breakthrough on agriculture and the sci- ence-based targets guidance for forest, land and agriculture³ are clearly a step forward, there are some major gaps (e.g., methane emissions) and the focus on cli- mate action needs to be expanded to include other important risk areas, such as waste and pollution, biodiversity and AMR (antimicrobial resistance).
More than half of meat producers do not disclose information⁵ on their antibiotic use. Early studies also show that releasing antibiotics into the soil through antibiot- ic-containing cattle manure impacts the soil’s micronutrients⁶ and ability to cap- ture carbon.
Biodiversity
Another important issue, absent from the IEA’s analysis and other 1.5 degree-aligned scenarios laid out by the Intergovernmen- tal Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is the impact of agricultural NZ pathways on biodiversity loss. It is understood that agricultural land expansion drives defor- estation, resulting in consequences for biodiversity
and contributes to the
emissions-intensity of the sector. More acutely, biodiversity risk is also associated with the expansion of land used to grow the bioenergy crops needed to support the transition. The climate and nature crises are inextricably linked, and we cannot afford to address climate change, deforestation and biodiversity loss in isolation.
The summary above of just a few of the biggest issues faced by the agriculture and land use sector illustrates why we believe a detailed, science-based roadmap is essential to achieve a sustainable and resilient food system for the future.
1) Source:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00225-9 2) Source:
https://www.fairr.org/article/roadmap-to-2050/ 3) Source:
https://sciencebasedtargets.org/resources/files/ SBTiFLAGGuidance.pdf 4) Source:
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/ doi/10.1086/721078#rf685. 5) Source:
https://www.fairr.org/index/key-findings/risk- opportunity-factors/antibiotics/ 6) Source:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releas- es/2021/11/
211108161433.htm
Key risks: For illustrative purposes only. The above information does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any security. The value of an investment and any income taken from it is not guaranteed and can go down as well as up, you may not get back the amount you originally invested. Past performance is not a guide to the future. Views expressed are of LGIM as at 05 October 2022. The Information in this article (a) is for information purposes only and we are not soliciting any action based on it, and (b) is not a recommendation to buy or sell securities or pursue a particular investment strategy; and (c) is not investment, legal, regulatory or tax advice. Legal & General Investment Management Limited. Registered in England and Wales No. 02091894. Registered Office: One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, No. 119272
40 | portfolio institutional | November 2022 | Issue 118
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