New research shows the world isn’t doing nearly enough to fix its food problem

A new study from the Food Systems Countdown Initiative, published in Nature Food, finds global progress toward sustainable food goals — set a decade ago by U.N. member states — is falling far short of 2030 targets. Agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, which make up about a third of human-caused emissions, are trending upward rather than down.

To hit net-zero agri-food emissions by 2030, the paper finds every world region would need to boost progress by roughly 70 percent annually for four straight years, a pace lead author Bianca Carducci flatly called not going to happen given real-world shifts closer to 5 percent a year. An accompanying dashboard tracks about 50 metrics, from diet costs to crop yields, across nearly every country.

Researchers note the picture brightens somewhat if the deadline shifts to 2050, but caution against treating that as license to coast. Outside expert Michael Puma argued rigid cutoffs can encourage short-term fixes rather than durable progress, urging focus on realistic pathways instead of dates.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.