The Current Column

Why food systems matter

The Relevance of Food Systems for Sustainability Transformations

Brüntrup, Michael / Aiveen Donnelly / Lukas Kornher / Tekalign Sakketa
The Current Column (2025)

Bonn: German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), The Current Column of 1 December 2025

Bonn, 1 December 2025. At the COP30 in Belem, policymakers, scientists, and civil society have discussed and updated international commitments and National Determined Contributions aligning with the Paris Agreement’s climate goals. For the first time, several countries and the EU linked climate action to hunger eradication, food access, and social protection. Although a core theme of COP30, the relevance of food systems in global sustainability transformations is still not fully acknowledged by high-income countries, and food system transformations remain highly underfinanced.

There will be no sustainable future without sustainable food systems. Agriculture, including fishery and forestry, - the starting point for food systems - occupies 40% of the global land surface and its eco-systems. Food systems account for 70% of freshwater withdrawals and a high proportion of water pollution, generate up to 30% of greenhouse gas emissions, provide employment to 40% of the global population, and – most importantly – feed 8 billion people. In addition, a sustainable bioeconomy can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining productive land and ecosystems.

Sustainable, affordable, and healthy diets accessible to all are the ultimate goals for food systems. Food systems encompass all value-adding activities and stakeholders along the entire food chain, considering the wider economic, social, cultural, and environmental contexts that shape and influence these activities. This includes the impact of food processing, trade, consumption, and management of losses and waste on sustainability. Additionally, food systems address further dimensions such as purchasing power and inclusiveness, inflation and health, particularly for marginalized and vulnerable people.

Food systems are constantly changing and inherently vulnerable due to a combination of external forces and internal dynamics. External forces include factors like climate change and public health conditions while internal dynamics stem from sources such as productivity improvements driven by innovation, changing processing technologies, transport costs or shifts in how consumers make food choices influenced by trends. Power relations, the political economy of diverse sub-systems and global policy shifts also influence the food system. At the same time, food systems have strategic relevance, beyond providing food, for our health, the environment, security, and the economy.

Food systems must not be ignored in policy debates on sustainable societal transformations. Unsustainable food systems create annual costs of between 10 and 20 trillion US$ due to health risks, productivity losses, environmental degradation and poverty. The cost of these food system externalities is equivalent to roughly 10% of the global gross domestic product. Climate change impacts on livelihoods are already visible today, in particular for the rural population. According to the Global Policy Report, 640 million undernourished and 1.5 billion obese people will coexist on the planet by 2050 if we continue our current course.

Food system transformations will help us leave the current trajectory and can reduce food system externalities substantially. This requires a combination of behavioural changes, policy adjustments, institutional changes, technological innovations, and immediate action to support the vulnerable population. Dietary changes to more plant-based foodstuffs could help reduce nutrition-related inequalities, malnutrition, as well as food system-related environmental consequences. Agricultural policies need to shift away from production incentives and price controls, which are both environmentally damaging and economically distorting towards policies that support access to sustainable and healthy diets for all. The expansion of social protection systems and transfers will be key for climate change adaptation. In addition, increased investment in climate change adaptation and mitigation is required. Currently, climate finance to food systems only amounts to a small portion of global climate finance.

On the one hand, food system externalities need to reflect market prices. To support the sustainability transformations, positive and negative food system externalities demand a revaluation of food system activities based on these externalities.

On the other hand, food system transformations need an investment boost. Policy makers need to close the massive funding gap for food system transformations because, measured against its relevance for achieving global sustainability goals, food systems remain vastly underfinanced.

Fundamentally, food systems need to be at the centre for the sustainability transformation. It is important that the global sustainability discussions take the role of food systems and the wider bioeconomy fully into account. Immediate action, such as an expansion of climate-smart agriculture and social protection, is needed to support the needed transformations of food systems.

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The whole IDOS Agricultural Working Group contributed to this column. It is a group of researchers of all disciplines from IDOS who work and discuss all topics related to agriculture in low and middle income countries.

• Clara Brandi
• Katharina Molitor
• Theodore Asimeng
• George Mudimu
• Charlotte Reich
• Srinivasa Srigiri
• Andreas Stamm