At Cop26, the UAE and the US announced a cooperative project to achieve swift and transformative climate action in agriculture, with the goal of increasing investment in science and innovation to guarantee the sector contributes to resolving the climate issue.

The Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate) has raised $4 billion in additional funding to improve climate change resilience, including a $1 billion gift from the United Arab Emirates.

The UAE-US effort is the first of its type in terms of global agriculture and climate change cooperation. The broad roster of sponsors of AIM for Climate includes more than 30 countries from six continents, including the most recent additions of Azerbaijan, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Notable non-governmental organisations, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as the global Food and Agriculture Organization, are also supporters.

"AIM for Climate is concentrating on a sector that has traditionally been disregarded in terms of the opportunity it provides for global climate action," says the organisation "Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Special Envoy for Climate Change in the UAE, Dr Sultan Al Jaber.

"The UAE has already influenced the energy sector through green innovation and growth, having invested more than $17 billion in clean energy around the world. AIM for Climate is an excellent extension of that investment plan, and the UAE is proud to contribute $1 billion to it."

Agriculture generates around 25% of all greenhouse gas emissions, making it a crucial element of the global climate change challenge. Food security is also in peril as the world's population grows more reliant on climate-vulnerable food production.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, and US President Joe Biden originally announced the AIM Climate initiative in April during the Leaders' Summit on Climate. The effort intends to assist the agriculture business in meeting the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

"The United States is thrilled to establish the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate project with the United Arab Emirates and over 80 partners from around the world," said John Kerry, the US special presidential envoy for climate.

"Climate-smart agriculture investment" To overcome the climate catastrophe, innovation is essential. Innovation can help farmers and ranchers prevent and adapt to climate change while also reducing emissions and feeding the world's rising population.

"AIM for Climate has gotten off to a great start, attracting $4 billion in new investment in climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation thus far."

The goal of the effort is to bring together participants and attract much-needed investment in climate-smart agricultural and food system innovation, which will help to solve global hunger and promote long-term economic growth.

According to AIM Climate, more investment in these areas can help agriculture become a part of the solution to climate change by informing science-based, data-driven decision-making and policies.

As a result, advances in technology and ways to adapt food production to the world's harsher environment will be easier to achieve, with the UAE already proving to be a pioneer in the agritech industry as it seeks to meet more of its food needs through locally grown produce.

The scheme can help generate higher economic returns and job creation in a sector that already employs more than two billion people by improving agriculture's ability to cope with climate change, bolster food security, and improve farmers' livelihoods by improving the ecosystems they rely on – particularly for women, children, and indigenous populations.

70 public and corporate partners have already committed to spurring agricultural innovation through investments and knowledge sharing as part of the multi-stakeholder approach to collaboration.

"AIM for Climate is the kind of bold step toward speeding the global food system transformation that we need to accomplish SDG 2 and end world hunger by 2030," says the UN "Minister of Climate Change and Environment and Minister of State for Food Security Mariam Al Mheiri remarked.

"The project will go a long way toward galvanising a worldwide movement to improve food security, alter our agricultural systems to be more sustainable, and combat climate change."