UAE-US led initiative doubles investment to $8bln in climate action

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At the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El Sheikh, a joint initiative led by the UAE and the US announced doubling of investments by partners in climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation to $8 billion.

The Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate) is an initiative led by the US and UAE governments, supported by 42 countries and 235 partners, with the focus on increasing investment in climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation to accelerate climate action. The initiative was announced at COP26 in Glasgow by US President Joe Biden with an initial investment of $4 billion.

The increased investment is comprised of more than $7 billion from government partners with contributions from Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Denmark, the European Commission, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Lithuania, New Zealand, South Korea, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, the US, the UAE, the UK, Uruguay, Vietnam, and over $1 billion investment from ‘innovation sprints’ – self-financed investment from non-government partners.

The number of ‘innovation sprints’ has increased from 22 to 30, which are generally aligned with one or more focal areas: smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries, emerging technologies, agro-ecological research and methane reduction.

The investments are enabled and supported by a tripling of AIM for Climate coalition of partners to this growing initiative, which now stands at more than 275 partners, comprising governments, businesses, academia, non-profits, think tanks and more. The number of partners at COP26 was 79.