FAO climate change lead Kaveh Zahedi to open Climate Smart Food 2023
Climate Smart Food 2023, our digital event spanning 19-21 September, begins next week. Over three days, we’ll be asking how the food industry can help drive a transition towards sustainable food sourcing, production, and consumption.
We’re thrilled to announce that the event will kick start on 19 September at 2pm CEST with a ‘fireside chat’ between the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Kaveh Zahedi, director of the Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment, and FoodNavigator editor Flora Southey.
Zahedi is relatively new to the post, having served as deputy executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) from 2016 to 2023.
Prior to that, he served the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in positions of increasing responsibility, including as regional director and representative for Asia and the Pacific; deputy director of the economy division and climate change coordinator based in Paris; active director/deputy director of the World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge; regional coordinator in Mexico City; and environmental affairs officer in Nairobi.
Zahedi started his career as economic consultant at the Corporation for Development in London and holds a Master of Arts in international relations from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from University College London.
19 September 14:00 CEST: Fireside chat
Navigating population dynamics to feed the future
Population growth is not linear: numbers are growing in some countries, and falling in others. How will food systems cope with these changing dynamics to ensure food security, all the while limiting their global warming impact?
- How are rising global temperatures impacting food production in different regions?
- Are varying population dynamics on the FAO’s radar? What challenges do rising numbers in some countries, and falling numbers in others, bring?
- How is awareness of these population dynamics feeding into the FAO’s strategy to ensure sustainable agriculture, while wiping out hunger and malnutrition?
- Is the FAO looking to new technologies to help transform food systems? Do barriers exist in adopting new tech at scale?
- What advice can the FAO offer food manufacturers in helping contribute to a more sustainable system of food production?
Speaker: Kaveh Zahedi, director of the Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment, FAO.
For each day of Climate Smart Food, sessions will run from 14:00 CEST to 17:00 CEST and will include interactive presentations, panel discussions, audience Q&As, fireside chats and start-up pitches. A full list of speakers are available here and the programme, here. Registration for this free-to-attend event can be found here.
19 September: Climate Smart Sourcing
Ingredients are a major contributor to FMCGs’ carbon footprints, making sourcing practices crucial to meeting carbon reduction deadlines. But cultivation is not the only consideration: global supply chains are increasingly plagued by disruption and have long been linked to human rights violations. How can sustainability be embedded into global supply chains?
On Day 1 of Climate Smart Food, we’ll be asking how best to mitigate against supply chain disruptions linked to droughts, floods or war; what sustainability legislation means for food majors; and whether regenerative agriculture can truly save the day.
20 September: Climate Smart Production
Feeding growing populations within planetary boundaries means producing more, with less. How can food and beverage makers increase output with fewer natural resources? From making the switch to ‘green’ energy to implementing water saving strategies and rethinking packaging design, we analyse the initiatives decarbonising production.
On Day 2 of Climate Smart Food, we’ll be asking how food majors can decarbonise their direct emissions; where water inefficiencies are most prevalent and how reliance can be reduced; what the future holds for plastic-free packaging; and whether we should increase our focus on the blue economy for sustainable nutrition.
21 September: Climate Smart Consumption
Shoppers often say they want ‘greener’ food and drink, but don’t always act with sustainability front-of-mind. Addressing barriers to climate smart consumption will be key to achieving food system transformation. Consumer demand is also a crucial piece of the food tech puzzle, with pioneers banking on us innovating our way out of the climate crisis. Are Europeans hungry for lab-grown food?
On Day 3 of Climate Smart Food, we’ll be asking what impact brands have on discouraging food waste in the home; how sustainability credentials can best stand out on the shelf; whether European consumers are ready for cultivated meat and precision fermentation dairy; and what the future holds for alternative protein.
Join the conversation live between 19-21 September by registering for free here.
