The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) seventh assessment cycle is currently underway, with the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) expected to play a key role in shaping global climate policy discussions in the coming years. Expert contributions are central to this process because they help ensure that policy responses to climate change are based on robust science. Agriculture and food systems are highly vulnerable to climate impacts and are also significant contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions. This makes them an important focus of climate science. 

The Expert Meeting on Agriculture and Food is, therefore, being convened to support the AR7 process by synthesizing the latest science on agriculture and food systems under climate change.

The Expert Meeting aims to provide targeted scientific and technical inputs to support the IPCC AR7 on agrifood systems, including by:

• compiling and assessing expert views on the latest scientific findings on adaptation and mitigation in agriculture and food systems;
• facilitating technical dialogue on solutions across food systems, including its potential, limitations, and synergies and trade-offs between adaptation, losses and damages, mitigation, and sustainable development; and
• support improved integration of agriculture and food systems considerations across IPCC WGs and the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.

The meeting will bring together multidisciplinary experts to advance the dialogue on adaptation, mitigation, and systems transitions through a food systems lens. It is structured to progressively build on the latest climate science and understanding of risk, toward integrated responses and implementation pathways, highlighting interconnections and synergies across mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, and food security within agrifood systems. Thematic sessions are scheduled as follows: 

• Updated information on emerging and future risks and impacts;
• Changes and implications for stakeholders;
• Synergies and solutions; and 
• Pathways for implementation.

The discussions are intended to inform all three AR7 Working Groups under the IPCC and feed into upcoming chapter work and cross-chapter papers. 

The Expert Meeting on Agriculture and Food will take place from 2-5 June 2026 in Rome, Italy. It is being co-sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the IPCC.

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) writers for this meeting are Tomilola Akanle Eni-ibukun, Ph.D.; Gabriella Boger Prado, Ph.D.; and Moritz Petersmann. The Digital Editor is Anastasia Rodopoulou. The Editor is Leila Mead.