The following statement was delivered during the Joint Work on Agriculture Workshop on June 9 2026 on behalf of ENGO-DCJ constituency during the 64th meeting of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB64) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC):

Today, according to the OECD Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation 2024, governments provided around USD 842 billion annually in agricultural support between 2022-24, and this is projected to nearly double by 2030. 

To simplify, subsidies are linked to the volume produced and to inputs such as fertilisers, seeds, fuel or animal feed. 

This has favoured emission-intensive production systems, particularly industrial animal agriculture and agricultural production for exports.​ Today, in their current form, subsidies create significant challenges. 

They often deepen inequalities by favouring large-scale producers and agribusinesses, while smallholder farmers, women, and agroecological producers receive far less support. Export subsidies also impact smallholders in the global south who can’t compete with artificially cheap products and and prevent food sovereignty.

They also contribute to environmental harm. Agricultural subsidies are linked to deforestation, overproduction of high-carbon commodities such as beef and dairy, harmful overfishing practices, and the intensification of farming systems that drive pollution, soil degradation, and water contamination. 

At the same time, subsidy reform represents one of the most immediate and practical opportunities to finance a just transition. These resources are already public and grant-based, meaning they can be redirected without creating new financial mechanisms or relying on additional capital.

By shifting support towards agroecology, governments can advance climate action, strengthen resilience, restore biodiversity, improve livelihoods, and help realise the right to food for all. This is why subsidy reform is gaining momentum internationally, including through the Global Biodiversity Framework’s commitment to reduce harmful incentives and increase positive ones for nature and at the Standing Committee on Finance last year that focused on agriculture. To be clear reforming agricultural subsidies is not in place of global north obligation and historical responsibility to provide climate finance to global south countries.

Because subsidies underpin global food systems, they are a powerful lever for change. If guided by just transition principles, reforming them can turn public spending into a tool that delivers climate, biodiversity, food security, and development goals simultaneously.