The session highlighted the potential of the agrifood sector to contribute significantly to emissions reduction and carbon removal but acknowledged critical barriers, including insufficient incentives and investment. A recent global assessment by the FAO, in collaboration with the Alliance of Bioversity & CIAT, University of Vermont, and Unique Forestry and Land Use, explores the sector’s engagement with voluntary carbon markets (VCMs). This report examines the agrifood sector’s potential within VCMs, offering strategies to scale its role, bolster climate action, and address challenges in public policy, market integrity, and alignment with global climate goals. 

The panel featured diverse experts who discussed these findings. 

Mohamed Manssouri, Director of the FAO Investment Centre, opened the session and introduced the report, saying; "This forthcoming report is the first comprehensive assessment of the agrifood sector’s role in voluntary carbon markets. It highlights both the potential of voluntary carbon markets to drive climate results in agrifood systems, and the challenges we face in ensuring these markets can deliver real benefits. It will also be a resource for agrifood stakeholders to identify opportunities and entry points for carbon projects, and to learn more about the diverse agrifood projects underway in the voluntary carbon markets." 

Concluding the discussion, Aditi Mukerji spoke to the untapped potential in agriculture's decarbonization through both voluntary and regulated carbon markets, explaining, "Bringing the two together can bring in a lot of benefits...but there are a lot of challenges." She noted the importance of exploring various financing options, not solely relying on VCMs: "While carbon markets are a source of finance, they are still a very small part. Let us not rule out other sources, particularly Article 6.8, which is more grant-based financing." 

Key Takeaways:  
- Voluntary carbon markets have the potential to drive climate action in agri-food systems, but face challenges in ensuring integrity and delivering real benefits. 
- There is a need to improve transparency, traceability, and credibility of carbon credits to build trust in the system. 
- The agri-food sector is currently underrepresented in voluntary carbon markets, with only about 4.3% of climate finance flowing to the sector and less than 20% going to small-scale producers. 
- Simplifying methodologies, increasing speed of project development, and combining carbon with other co-benefits (e.g., biodiversity, livelihoods) could help drive greater participation and impact in the agri-food sector. 
- Enabling policies, data availability, and multi-stakeholder collaboration are crucial to unlocking the potential of voluntary carbon markets for agri-food systems transformation.