Putting Food on the Balance Sheet

The document argues that global agrifood systems require annual investments of $1.1 trillion over the next five years to meet Paris Agreement targets, yet current flows account for only ~5% of this need. It outlines six financing models to bridge this gap, ranging from sustainable debt for corporates to blended finance facilities for smallholders, emphasizing the role of catalytic capital and value chain coordination to reduce risk for commercial investors.

• Global agrifood systems face a massive investment gap, requiring an estimated $1.1 trillion annually over the next five years to align with Paris Agreement greenhouse gas emission targets, while current annual investments are only approximately $60 billion to $75 billion.
• Food systems contribute significantly to environmental degradation, with agriculture causing nearly 90% of global deforestation and the total food value chain accounting for over 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
• Investment needs for food systems transformation vary by region; emerging markets in Asia Pacific, Africa, and Latin America have the highest funding needs, primarily for preventing land-use change, whereas Europe focuses more on regenerative agriculture.
• The document identifies specific annual funding needs for various transformation solutions: deforestation and land use change prevention (~$300bn), regenerative agriculture (~$180bn), low carbon and resilient livestock practices (~$110bn), green energy usage (~$60bn), low carbon food consumption (~$30bn), food waste reduction (~$40bn), low carbon technology (~$20bn), and low carbon fertilizer (~$10bn).
• Six financial models are proposed to mobilize commercial capital: 1) discounted loans to corporates for value chain financing, 2) working capital financing leveraging corporate credit ratings, 3) direct farmer lending facilitated by corporate catalytic capital, 4) the 'Filiere' model for scaled supply chain lending, 5) direct farmer lending derisked by catalytic capital, and 6) indirect lending via blended finance facilities.
• Derisking is essential for attracting commercial capital and can be achieved directly (e.g., through first-loss coverage, guarantees, and tranching) or indirectly (e.g., through offtake agreements, price premiums, and the monetization of ecosystem services like carbon credits).
• Multistakeholder platforms, such as the Innovative Finance for the Amazon, Cerrado and Chaco (IFACC) initiative, can scale impact by coordinating diverse capital sources and capabilities; IFACC has raised $4.6 billion in committed funds with a goal of $10 billion by 2030.

APA

World Economic Forum (2025). Putting Food on the Balance Sheet. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Putting_Food_on_the_Balance_Sheet_2025.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Putting Food on the Balance Sheet. 2025. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Putting_Food_on_the_Balance_Sheet_2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Putting Food on the Balance Sheet |date=June 2025 |url=https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Putting_Food_on_the_Balance_Sheet_2025.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2025putting, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Putting Food on the Balance Sheet}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2025}, month = jun, url = {https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Putting_Food_on_the_Balance_Sheet_2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }