U.S. and the UAE announce Agriculture Innovation Mission at COP26

With 31 countries and over 48 non-government partners, the United States and the United Arab Emirates officially inaugurated the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate) at the COP26 UN summit in Glasgow. President Biden said at the World Leaders Summit that the US wants to invest $1 billion in climate-smart agriculture and food system innovation over the next five years (2021-2025).

AIM for Climate, which was announced at President Biden’s Leaders Summit on Climate in April, is a ground-breaking initiative that focuses on increasing investment and enabling greater public-private and cross-sectoral partnerships to both raise global climate ambition and underpin transformative climate action in all countries’ agriculture sectors. Over the next five years, AIM for Climate has already yielded a “early harvest” of $4 billion in increased investment in climate-smart agriculture and food system innovation.

This funding is being mobilised by AIM for Climate partners to close the global investment gap in climate-smart agriculture and food chain innovation. Climate-smart agriculture is a strategy for guiding actions to transform and reorient agricultural systems in order to achieve three main goals: increasing agricultural productivity and incomes while adapting to climate change and building resilience, and reducing or eliminating greenhouse gas emissions. AIM for Climate aims to establish incentives for future investments in agriculture that are climate-ready, as well as systems for optimising the impact of those investments.

Through a surge of public investment in climate-smart agricultural and food system innovation, government partners are laying the groundwork for AIM for Climate. Other sectors, such as business, philanthropy, and other non-government partners, are encouraged to build on that foundation by investing in “innovation sprints” – focused, measurable, and expedited efforts – or by providing critical knowledge for identifying investment gaps, challenges, and opportunities.