Issues, Trends, Tools & Surprises — 2024

The WWF Markets Institute report outlines key surprises from 2023, including the rapid reach of AI and progress on global plastics, while highlighting systemic risks to the food system from climate change. It argues for a shift toward 'true cost' market mechanisms, the adoption of soil microbiology science, and the use of next-generation genetics to replace chemical inputs. The report emphasizes the need for better Scope 3 emissions traceability, the rehabilitation of stranded assets, and the creation of pre-competitive knowledge-sharing platforms to build global food system resilience.

• Climate change is impacting food production faster than projected, with El Nino expected to significantly affect production and increase prices for globally traded agricultural commodities, particularly in Latin America. Projections suggest the 2030s will be a decade of considerable global drought affecting most major agricultural production regions.
• Current carbon markets are deemed insufficient to induce the necessary global changes for sustainability and resilience because they often pay farmers for existing practices or rely on non-credible models. The report suggests that reducing methane production in the short term has several times more impact than reducing CO2 emissions.
• Soil health awareness is shifting toward understanding soil as its own biome, specifically the role of underground mycorrhizal fungal networks. These networks are estimated to be responsible for sequestering a third of global emissions, yet the FAO suggests 90% of soils used for food will be degraded by 2050.
• There is a critical lack of traceability and transparency regarding Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions and social impacts (such as child or slave labor) in commodity trading. The EU Deforestation Regulation is noted as a driver forcing deforestation-free commodity imports starting in 2024.
• The report proposes the '1% Solution' as a market mechanism to address the true cost of food, which involves adding a 1% environmental premium to the FOB commercial price of key exported food items to fund the elimination of environmental impacts in the exporting country.
• Next-generation genetics, particularly CRISPR, are expected to transition agricultural inputs from chemistry to biology, potentially replacing pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, and fertilizers with seed traits.
• The number of extreme weather events is rising rapidly; in the US, 2023 saw 28 extreme events costing $1B or more, a 40% increase over the average of the previous three years. This trend is making certain types of insurance, such as wildfire coverage in California, unavailable.

APA

WWF International (2024). Issues, Trends, Tools & Surprises — 2024. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/173/1xaxyj5jmt_MI_Issues_Trends_Tools_and_Surprises_2024_01_24_v2.pdf

Chicago

WWF International. Issues, Trends, Tools & Surprises — 2024. 2024. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/173/1xaxyj5jmt_MI_Issues_Trends_Tools_and_Surprises_2024_01_24_v2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF International |title=Issues, Trends, Tools & Surprises — 2024 |date=2024 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/173/1xaxyj5jmt_MI_Issues_Trends_Tools_and_Surprises_2024_01_24_v2.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfinternational2024issues, author = {{WWF International}}, title = {{Issues, Trends, Tools \& Surprises — 2024}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2024}, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/173/1xaxyj5jmt_MI_Issues_Trends_Tools_and_Surprises_2024_01_24_v2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }