(by email) 2020 2nd of July
Dear Sirs, In a time of climate crisis, public finance institutions such as the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) have an urgent responsibility to align their lending with the goals of the Paris Agreement. As calls come from economists and environmentalists alike to “build back better” following the pandemic, it is essential that we include agriculture in considerations of how we finance a sustainable future. Experts project that the livestock sector will account for almost half (49%) of the world’s emissions budget for 1.5°C by 2030 and 80% by 2050. Business-as-usual is clearly not an option. Increased deforestation for cattle ranching and feed grains in the global South, as illustrated by the rapidly increasing deforestation rates in the Amazon and other biomes, is also contributing significantly to increased greenhouse gas emissions at a time when the IPCC suggests that ecosystem restoration is critical to keeping warming to 1.5°C . These trends are also exacerbating existing inequalities as indigenous peoples and local communities face displacement, criminalization and violence. To meet the steep and rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions necessary to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, and to ensure that human rights are protected by reducing the pressure on land and landgrabs, global livestock numbers need to fall substantially. Yet, the current growth trajectory of industrial animal agriculture has been supported by public financing from the development banks which you both lead. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) provided up to $2.6 billion in finance for pig, poultry and beef farming operations, as well as dairy and meat processing, during the past ten years. Much of this financing went to support controversial ‘mega-farm’ style production in regions with high per-capita meat consumption – not to sustainable, climate-resilient and agroecological production. This financing is in inherent contradiction with both the IFC and EBRD’s policies on a green transition. From the EBRD’s strategy for a Green Economy Transition, to the joint IDFC-MDB statement on alignment with the Paris Agreement, MDBs have a global responsibility to support low-carbon and climate resilient development. To truly meet the intent of these ambitions, international development finance must take seriously their intent to redirect financial flows ‘in support of transitions towards low-carbon and climate resilient sustainable development’, in the words of the joint IDFC-MDB statement on alignment with the Paris Agreement. We have reached ‘peak livestock’. To align their finance with the Paris Agreement, MDBs including the IFC and the EBRD, have a huge task at hand. For animal agriculture, we ask the MDBs to:- Commit to a strategy to align investments with ‘peak livestock’, ensuring an end to all financing in support of industrial meat and dairy production, including feed production.
- Ensure that investments are in line with human rights obligations and redirect financial support to sustainable, climate-resilient and agroecological production.
