[Recording] This session delved into key strategies and challenges for fostering healthier diets, with a particular focus on India. It convened a diverse panel of academics, industry leaders, and government officials to discuss the multifaceted aspects of food security and nutrition.

In his presentation, Kevin Chen cited options to achieve 2060 carbon neutrality while ensuring food security: improve crop technologies (increase yields, improve fertilizer use efficiency); improve livestock technologies (reduce GHG emissions, improve forage use efficiency; reduce food waste and loss; adjust diets (reduce meat consumption); and combination of these approaches.

In his presentation, Arthur Hanson highlights the mutually reinforcing co-benefits and synergies between food and ecological climate security where projects must be nature-positive, carbon-neutral towards integrated rural development.

Yongping Zhai and Preety Bhandari emphasized that while institutions such as ADB can help mobilize financing towards low carbon and climate resilient development, the bulk of climate financing originates in countries where they are deployed. Ultimately, the greater role will lie on governments in ensuring that national policies are in place so that national budgets are allocated towards this purpose and incentives are provided to the private sector to channel funds in the right direction.

Suzanne Gaboury emphasized that public and private sectors must work together to build a resilient and sustainable food system. Under the guiding principle of the One ADB approach taken on by many projects, public sector and private sector teams have been working together to build end hunger and malnutrition in the developing member countries.

Shenggen Fan shared that good infrastructure, government actions, and the spirit of working together contributed to increasing food system resilience. There is a need to rethink and invest on how food can be produced better with less water, land, and other resources. On the consumption side, there is a need to explore game changing solutions to problems of GHG emissions, water shortage such as vertical farming, and others. Financing must support such initiatives.

In his presentation, Kevin Chen shared how sustainable and resilient food systems can be an effective instrument to address ADB’s operational priorities in closing financial gaps. The three priority actions that were highlighted are (1) reorientation of public finance and policy institutions, (2) scaling up private investment in food system transformations, and (3) leveraging digital technologies.

In his presentation, Jiahua Pan highlighted that rural areas must lead the process towards carbon neutrality and contribute to net-zero carbon in urban areas. He highlighted that carbon neutrality will bring opportunities for rural prosperity while food security must be prioritized.

In his remarks, James Lynch highlighted the need for new approaches and integrated solutions to achieve carbon neutrality in the region, generate new revenues from renewable energy, and channel more private investments into research and development.