5 “no regrets” actions our government can take against climate change ahead of this year’s COP26

The countdown is on to the year’s biggest climate change event: COP26

COP26, the UN’s Climate Change Conference, is taking place in Glasgow in just a few weeks’ time. Delegates from around the world will get together to discuss essential ways to take action against climate change and propose solutions. Real progress could - and should - happen.

As the host of this year’s event, the UK has a great opportunity to position itself as a leader in the climate conversation. Fortunately, we’ve got a great solution to put forward.

We need to put agroecology in the spotlight 

It is estimated that as much as one third of global greenhouse gas emissions comes from food and farming. Therefore, changes to our diet, and the way we produce food, can play a really positive role in tackling climate change.

A major way in which we could adapt our relationship to food and farming on a large scale would be by widening a transition to ‘agroecology’, nature-friendly farming that works with the environment, to our agricultural systems.

‘Agroecological’ farming practices can be deployed at pace and scale, and models show that these nature-friendly systems could feed a growing European population healthily while reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture by 40%. Crucially, agroecological methods also maintain and protect healthy soils: a vital resource for locking up carbon, and therefore instrumental in the fight against climate change.

There’s no question about it. Food, farming and the state of our climate are connected, and lasting change will be underpinned by our efforts to transform how we produce and consume food. As the coordinator of this year’s COP26 event, the UK has a key role in communicating this message.

This is a grave responsibility - and a golden opportunity – for the UK

The world will be watching the UK, and waiting for our government to show climate leadership, at what is arguably one of the most crucial turning points for the environment in our planet’s history.

With that in mind, they must do everything they can to ensure fair and inclusive participation for all delegates at COP26 and put forward quick, decisive actions to preserve Earth. Supporting these goals, on behalf of the Soil Association our CEO, Helen Browning, has signed a letter co-written by some of the most influential voices in the environmental movement including the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, National Trust, RSPB, Sustainable Food Trust and WWF. It details five compelling “no regrets” actions the government can take against rapid climate change.

Climate change waits for no-one. It’s time for our government to step up for the future of our planet.