The Climate Challenge & Protein Diversification for the Global South

Food systems sit at the center of the climate challenge. This DC Climate Week session brings together development finance leaders, researchers, and industry experts to explore how diversified protein production can advance climate resilience, economic development, and food security across the Global South. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, featuring Bezos Earth Fund and the Good Food Institute, will host a high-level DC Climate Week session, at 3pm on April 21st at Carnegie Endowment, focused on climate-smart, market-based food security interventions in the Global South. The global food system accounts for over one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, driven largely by animal protein production. But investments in transformative solutions to address the climate impact, while still meeting global food security needs, remain neglected. Key interventions for the food system remain underfunded by the private sector, multilateral development banks, and climate funders alike. This event will explore strategies that strive to balance mitigation and adaptation with development, nutrition, and food security goals for countries in the Global South. Among these promising approaches are innovations in alternatives to animal-source protein production, the bioeconomy, and related food system reforms. This event will be formatted in two practical sessions: first, a panel discussion on food security and development finance; and second, a roundtable on scaling protein security in the Global South, bringing together insights from development and climate finance, food system researchers, and protein innovation practitioners in emerging markets.