C16 Biosciences’ Post

Over the summer, The New York Times' David Wallace-Wells put out an urgent notice around the need for a "food transition" at the speed and scale we've seen implemented around the energy transition that could deliver "better nutrition more equitably and more affordably to more people, all without devastating ecosystems or polluting local environments or pushing the planet further into climate disarray." This food transition won't happen without heavy innovation and heavy investment (like we've seen in the energy transition). The statistics Wallace-Wells cites are shocking: - About three-quarters of all global agricultural land is vulnerable to substantial climate disruptions. - The effects of climate change have reduced the growth of overall global agricultural productivity by between 30 and 35 percent. The climate threats to come loom even larger. - According to the World Resources Institute, we may need to add almost two Indias to the world’s existing farmland to meet food needs in the second half of this century. — but adding that farmland means cutting down forests, which store carbon, in order to graze more animals, which produce carbon. -Over a 30-year time horizon, the insurer Lloyd’s recently estimated a 50 percent chance of what it called a “major” global food shock. If you are passionate about the opportunity to innovate within food systems to mitigate climate risk and you are in our hometown for #NYClimateWeek, please come by the event we are co-hosting with FoodxClimate on Wednesday at the C16 Biosciences HQ. Link to register below. Article: https://lnkd.in/eYQ_Hh9P