When Suzume Soryo* started working as a technical writer at a software company, she jumped immediately into the climate community at her new organization. 

In 2022, I gave a presentation about climate change solutions to the Canadian Parliament. During that meeting, I had the opportunity to hear a presentation from a beef producers group about how they intended to rely on a new synthetic methane inhibitor (not approved in Canada at the time) as the heart of efforts to curb their greenhouse gas emissions. 

It surprises many people to learn that the food we eat, the farms that grow it, and the landscapes we’ve cleared all contribute to climate change. And contribute in a big way.

Unfortunately, policymakers, business leaders, investors, and philanthropists often overlook this critical aspect of climate change. Moving forward, we must carefully weigh the food system’s impact on climate and develop a robust portfolio of solutions to address it.

I have worked in the sustainability space for almost a decade. In that time, I have witnessed my parents struggle to tell their friends what their daughter does for work; my friends who work in tech smile and nod when I talk about climate policy; and strangers apologize to me for not recycling. 

Reducing methane emitted by agriculture, fossil fuels, and landfills is one of the most important and effective actions we can take to stabilize Earth’s climate. 

To meet climate and health goals, countries must fund black carbon reduction at the scale and urgency that the threat warrants.

Growing up, visiting my grandparents in rural India was the highlight of my summer vacation. In the 1990s, before social media began to consume pastimes, frolicking around with my cousins and admiring the beautiful nature was enough to satiate my childish heart.

To stop climate and build a sustainable future, food matters – a lot! What we eat and how we grow it is responsible for around 20–35% of human-generated greenhouse gas emissions. 

In this presentation, Project Drawdown executive director Jonathan Foley shares a new framework for addressing climate change from food, agriculture, and land use. In addition, he offers a glimpse into a Project Drawdown initiative launching this year that will bring sharper focus to solutions in this space.