The European Food System: The transition towards sustainability and climate mitigation

FAO Chief EconomistMáximo Torero joined other speakers in the virtual conference on the transition towards sustainability and climate mitigation hosted by EURACTIV and supported by the Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (FACCE-JPI). Torero noted the importance of transforming food systems, citing the European Green Deal and the EU Farm to Fork Strategy as crucial elements towards achieving this goal and pointing out the important role to be played by the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). He said that FAO sees  innovation, technology and big data and  good governance as key building blocks of the FAO mandate. He also emphasized that policies should not only focus on production but also the environment.

Joining the Chief Economist were Member of the European Parliament Atidzhe Alieva-Veli, Chair of the FACCE-JPI Scientific Advisory Board Frank Ewert, and EU Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) policy expert for food safety and the agrifood industry Wim Haentjens.

Haentjens pointed out that the EU Commission is currently gearing up for its next financial cycle and plans to put in place important instruments, such as Horizon Europe, to support research and innovation on food systems inside of the Union. He added that the United Nations Food Systems Summit will serve as an important milestone to boost the debate in this regard.

The recording of the event is available here