Industrialized agricultural systems are energy-intensive, highly polluting and a major driver of the global climate crisis. Livestock in factory farms pump enormous quantities of potent greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere, while synthetic fertilizers, produced using fossil fuels, emit the powerful greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. Yet, in the U.S., the EU. and around the world, agriculture emissions remain largely unregulated. At the same time, rising temperatures and extreme weather pose enormous new challenges for food production, food producers and their communities.

As the connections between climate and agriculture have gained attention in recent years, agribusiness has pushed false solutions, such as carbon farming and biogas digesters, to prop up shaky net-zero claims and reinforce the industrial system. Real solutions to climate change must go further than simply cutting net emissions; they must protect biodiversity, empower communities and increase ecosystems’ adaptive capacity. At the national, regional and international levels, IATP advocates for strong regulatory frameworks that hold agribusiness corporations responsible for emissions and for deeper public investments in resilient agroecological food systems.