Csaba Kőrösi, President of the 77th session of the General Assembly
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Good Food Finance Week (GFFW) Leaders Dialogue
24 April 2023
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends,
All actions have multiple consequences whether they were intended or not.
Similarly, inaction also leads to consequences, many of which would better be avoided.
Food production is a major driver of climate change and the destruction of nature, accounting for:
It means the planet sustaining capacities and the today’s way of producing food are inconsistent. With other words, through the todays food production, we consume more natural capital than what is being regenerated.
It is not an argument for producing less food. By 2050, the world will need 30-50% more food than what is being consumed today. It is a call for doing more in a smarter way.
We are financing a food production system that is accumulating debts in terms of depleting natural capital. These debts will not disappear. We and our successors will have to pay them back in the form of increasing cost of production or declining quality.
Today’s cascading global crises have increased food insecurity in almost all countries.
It means people are suffering because of the inadequate ways we deal with food.
People and planet at peril: these are two very grave arguments for transforming our food systems.
Reforming how we produce, transport, process, store, trade, invest in, regulate and consume food has become critical to addressing our most pressing global challenges.
Studies estimate the cost of food system transformation would require about $300-350 billion annually over the next 10 years.
The key to achieving transformative change is in how we finance food systems – and in implementing a holistic food finance architecture.
A holistic approach must correct system inefficiencies and promote sustainable practices that benefit us and our only globe, too.
Importantly, it must help redirect $2 trillion in private capital towards healthier outcomes.
To unlock the capital required, we need both public and private financial institutions to
What else must we do?
Let us acknowledge that we cannot change what we cannot measure.
We need a new economic model that looks beyond GDP,and measures all relevant factors involved in humanity’swell-being, including the human, social, natural and built capitals not captured in the traditional GDP metric.
The number of trees cut down and natural services eliminated in the name of agricultural development, for example.
Or the volume of pollutants in our air, which is linked to human health.
Don’t misunderstand me: GDP is useful – for certain objectives. But may not be enough to uphold a system to sustain people. Because the food system we finance will be efficient only if the value we create is not less than the value we eliminate throughout production.
As statistician Stefan Schweinfest recently explained, “If you’re trying to eat soup with a fork, don’t blame the fork. It’s the wrong tool. The spoon has been invented.”
By spooning out more information, by measuring more, we gain a more accurate picture of the impact of what we consume and produce.
Third, we need to inject more science into decision-making.
As part of my commitment to boost action at the United Nations, I recently hosted the second science briefing in the General Assembly.
Experts discussed “Food Security and Sustainability Transformation” and called for a holistic approach to address the unintended consequences of our food strategies on the environment, our societies and our health.
They agreed that science-based thinking is needed to minimize the trade-offs – and maximize the synergies –among food security, nutrition, poverty reduction, water and climate change efforts. To make sure what we finance, will support sustainable development on the shorter and longer run, too.
Dear Friends,
We have the strategies, knowledge, systems, technologies and capital needed to transform our food systems on a global scale.
Our progress is critical to achieving the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement.
What we need is to reinforce the commitment. The will.The determination to act.
I commend you for seeking solutions that will help us accelerate the pace of change.
I am grateful to you for doing so much to transform this crucial element of our great global equation.
Yes, I admit, changing things always means taking risks, too.
But we must have learned by now that the price of inaction is usually far greater than the cost of making a mistake.
As investor Mellody Hobson put it, “The biggest risk of all is not taking one.”
I thank you.
