Urgent Call for Accelerated Action on Climate-Nutrition Integration – Latest Assessment

London/Geneva

For Immediate Release

Urgent Call for Accelerated Action on Climate-Nutrition Integration – Latest Assessment

• Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean are leading the way
• Strongest integration is at the nexus of gender, nutrition and climate change, with 69% ccGAPs showing a clear intention to address climate and nutrition in tandem.  

• Very low levels of integration in the private sector – 79% of the 350 companies assessed had zero integration.

   

The Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition (I-CAN) released its latest worldwide assessment of the integration of nutrition and climate action. The report analyses 16 key indicators across 198 countries, revealing that some policy areas have made progress – particularly national nutrition and adaptation plans.  

However, critical gaps remain in many other areas, particularly in climate finance and private sector action. These gaps are major missed opportunities in two crucial areas that can help accelerate progress in addressing both climate change and malnutrition.  

Climate change and malnutrition in all its forms are two of the greatest challenges facing humanity today and are intrinsically intertwined. The 2025 Lancet Countdown report estimates that 123.7 million more people experienced moderate to severe food insecurity in 2023 (compared to 1981-2010) due to the effects of climate change.  

Climate change impacts food systems, health systems, social protection systems and water systems - all of which are fundamental for good nutrition. At the same time, inefficiencies and maladaptation in these four systems are further contributing to the drivers of climate change, namely greenhouse gas emissions and the degradation of natural resources.

Despite this interconnectedness, both climate change and malnutrition are largely addressed in silos, slowing down progress and eroding investments made in both the sectors.  

"Taking an integrated and coordinated action on climate and nutrition represents a major opportunity to maximise win-wins across two crucial domains. By failing to do so, governments, businesses, and investors miss the chance to do more with less - which is especially important in the current context," – Oliver Camp, Environment & Food Systems Advocacy Advisor, GAIN.  

The 2025 I-CAN assessment report – ‘Advancing Synergies Across Nutrition and Climate Action’, analyses how well nutrition and climate initiatives are integrated within each other. Some of the key findings  from the assessment -

Modest Progress:

69% Climate Change Gender Action Plans (ccGAPs) show a clear intention or plan to address climate and nutrition in tandem – highest level of integration among all indicators assessed.

51% of the countries, through their National Nutrition Plans (NNPs), demonstrate strong intention for climate-nutrition integration.

23% of finance commitments by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) supported nutrition related project. GCF is considered the world’s largest find of its kind, helping developing countries with climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Critical Gaps:

Only 1% of the $137 billion USD in Official Development Assistance (ODA) supports activities which explicitly mention nutrition. While the World Bank’s commitment to nutrition-related activities within climate related projects stands at only 2.9% of $67.5billion USD.  

Only 21% of Nationally Determined Contributors (NDCs), which are climate action plans of each country under the Paris Agreement, show some intention to integrate climate action and nutrition, despite the requirement to renew policies prior to COP30  

None of the 350 companies assessed by the World Benchmarking Alliance Food and Agriculture Benchmark, scored well on both nutrition and environmental sustainability.

"Action on climate and action on nutrition are both moving in the right direction - but far too slowly. We need to accelerate integrated action on food systems, nutrition, climate change and health - supported by finance and sustained technical support that reaches the countries that need it most. Together, the I-CAN partners are working to build this support." - Edward Boydell, Food Systems Strategic Advisor, SUN Movement Secretariat

"Embedding nutrition into Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) should be, in 2025, the bare minimum – yet less than 25% of countries show meaningful evidence of this. Governments must recognise how integrated approaches to climate and nutrition can not only accelerate progress, but also deliver on a broad range of other sustainable development objectives relating to health, poverty and gender" - Imogen Long, Consultant, Climate Focus, co-author of the report alongside GAIN.  

From disrupted food systems to rising health inequalities, the growing impacts of climate change continue to threaten the progress made thus far, in addressing nutrition challenges. And despite modest progress since 2023, the integration of climate and nutrition in key international and national policies, and financing remains limited. The need for more coordinated, integrated and cross-sectoral actions continues to be more urgent than ever.