Energy and food nexus
Energy is essential for food security and development. The challenge is to disconnect fossil fuel use from agrifood system transformation without hampering food security. To address this challenge, FAO supports countries and practitioners to find viable innovative energy solutions to build back better by establishing a pathway to green growth and One Health.
Energy-Smart Food programme
FAO’s Energy-Smart Food (ESF) programme is a multi-partner initiative that works with countries helping them move towards energy-smart agrifood systems that are less dependent on fossil fuels. The ESF Programme includes the following work streams:
- Energy in food systems, with an emphasis on renewable energy.
- Sustainable bioenergy.
- Sustainable access to energy for refugees and host communities in protracted crises.
The programme also aims to increase access to sustainable energy through solutions that encompass:
- Increasing circularity through waste-to-energy along agrifood chains;
- Adopting a water-energy-food nexus approach.
The programme addresses the needs of energy in agriculture by supporting the implementation of national and regional strategies, pledges and action plans, to achieve targets under the Sustainable Development goals to fulfil the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the Paris Agreement.
Further reading
- Renewable energy for agri-food systems. Towards the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris agreement (2021)
- Renewable energy for agri-food chains: investing in solar energy in Rwanda (2021)
- Key success factors and obstacles for FAO energy projects in humanitarian settings (2020)
- Measuring impacts and enabling investments in energy-smart agrifood chains (2019)