Davos 2023 - Climate and transitioning of food systems (original) (raw)

“The greatest lesson of the week has been that although the world is more fragmented today, it does not need to be tomorrow” – Børge Brende (President, World Economic Forum Geneva)

For the last few days, I have been in Davos, during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum 2023, and the message is clear: collaboration is the key to a regenerative future. The theme chosen for this year “Cooperation in a fragmented world” reverberates this since the most significant challenges of this decade – food security and living costs, geoeconomics conflicts, polarization, large-scale migration, impacts and changes in the energy matrix, natural resources crisis, climate change mitigation and adaptation, etc. – require cooperation between governments, private initiative, research institutes, NGOs and many other agents. More than ever, the responsibility is collective.

I was happy to see the Climate agenda gain more prominence since climate change is one of the major concerns affecting all economic sectors, societies, and nature. In addition, I also noticed advances in the ESG agenda and the discussions about the importance of regenerative practices – especially regarding food production.

Financing was also really debated in Davos, after all, without it we can not build new paths to decarbonize the economy; transition agrifood systems to more productive, sustainable, and climate-resilient models; and support the economic recovery of societies affected by natural disasters, crises, and conflicts. We cannot just keep discussing it, we need to take action and have financing to scale transitioning strategies.

As a WEF Young Global Leader, I am always pursuing how to lead change together. As an entrepreneur, I am passionate about food systems and climate, and I strongly believe in food production's inherent potential to generate a positive impact and the power of technology as a lever to all of this.

So, it was inspiring to be on the panel “Bridging the Divide”, with Kate Behncken (Corporate Vice President, Global Head of Microsoft Philanthropies), Juan M. Lavista Ferres (VP, Chief Data Scientist, and Lab Director, Microsoft AI for Good Lab) and Raj Kumar (President and Editor-in-Chief at Devex), and with others Yong Global Leaders, as Fatoumata BA (Founder & Executive Chair, Janngo and Managing Partner of Janngo Capital) and Shamina Singh (President at Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth ), who are working together on how to bring prosperity to the least developed countries.

Another exceptional experience was contributing to the panel “Tackling the Protein Dilemma”, with Ivo Lansbergen (President Animal Nutrition & Health, DSM ), Arnold Puech Pays d'Alissac (President World Farmers' Organisation ), Juan M. Lavista Ferres (VP Chief Data Scientist for AI for Good Lab, Microsoft ) and Jenny Davis-Peccoud (Head Sustainability & Responsibility Bain & Company ).

I believe that accelerating the transition of the agrifood systems can directly collaborate to reducing carbon emissions, generating income, jobs, and economic development opportunities in a sustainable way, and reducing food insecurity and malnutrition.

There were several talks and meetings, but I could not fail to highlight the Latino meeting held by “ We Are All Human Foundation ” and The Hispanic Star about the economic relevance of Hispanics and how we need to have more Latino inclusion in decision-making roles, as well as the “UN Food Systems Summit Dialogue” at the “SDG Tent”, with Clim-Eat, in which we discussed the role of innovation in the agrifood system with Rodrigo Santos (Member of the Board Management of Bayer AG and President of Crop Science Division), moderating by David Nabarro (Strategic Director, 4SD), and, among several important participations as Tania Strauss (Head of Strategy and Global Projects, Food System Initiative at the World Economic Forum), AGNES KALIBATA (President at AGRA) and Arnold Puech D'Alissac (World Farmers' Organization).

Furthermore, in Davos, I shared the work that Agrosmart has been doing in the Amazon by using technology to scale transparency in the local bioeconomy. The project presented is a result of a lot of efforts to bring traceability to the açaí supply chain – something essential to food companies operating in the region. This is important because fostering a transparent bioeconomy at Amazon represents more opportunities for income generation, sustainable socioeconomic development, and protection and conservation of the forest.

The challenges are many, but so are the opportunities. I emphasize that financing is essential: to facilitate access to the adoption of technologies capable of generating transformations, and allowing the creation of these technologies – and here the role of allocation of Private Equity and Venture Capital funds comes in.

It is time for us to work together to move forward with the regenerative agenda, as it will not be a single solution, but a blend of them that will lead us to a less fragmented and more sustainable future. How inspiring and lucky it is to share this journey of creating a better future with such friends from The Forum of Young Global Leaders and special Brazilians.