News & media COP30: Learning from LATAM and Unlocking Regenerative Agriculture’s Potential
By Emre Tokpinar
As COP30 enters its second week in Belém, Brazil, at the mouth of the Amazon Rainforest, the world gathers once again at the largest annual climate convention to chart a path forward in a rapidly changing world. This year’s conference marks the ten-year anniversary of the Paris Agreement, a milestone in global climate action. Yet, despite international commitments, progress towards 2030 decarbonisation targets has slowed, with nations falling behind on the steps required to meet these goals [1]. The imperative for focused, tangible action against climate change is more pressing than ever, with or without sovereign support, and this year’s conference places agriculture, food systems, and biodiversity at the forefront, named among its key pillars for action. The success of COP30 will hinge on whether it can turn dialogue into collaboration, linking industry, farmers, financiers, and policymakers in advancing regenerative solutions that deliver real climate gains.
The case for transforming food systems is clear. From 1990 to 2015, agriculture, forestry, and land use contributed approximately 34 per cent of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions [2]. At the same time, climate change is undermining agricultural productivity, with extreme heat, droughts, floods, and biodiversity loss contributing to a 21 per cent decline in global total factor productivity (farming input-to-output efficiency) since 1961 [3]. Growing populations also intensify the pressure, underscoring the urgent need for sustainable, resilient food systems.
What is Regenerative Agriculture?
Regenerative agriculture is an approach to farming that aims to enhance soil health and, through that, increase crop climate resilience and sequester carbon. Unlike widespread conventional farming that relies on chemical inputs to spur short-term growth, often degrading microbial soil communities in the process, regenerative practices focus on rebuilding subterranean systems through practices such as cover cropping, reduced or no tillage, intercropping, and livestock integration, among others. Simply put, going from chemical-first farming to biological-first farming.
Healthy soils are the foundation of agriculture. For millennia, microorganisms and plants have formed symbiotic relationships through underground fungal networks that deliver nutrients, store carbon and strengthen soil structure. These networks improve water retention and enhance biodiversity whilst buffering crops against extreme weather events, which are only becoming more common [4].
Additionally, the potential climate benefits of regenerative agriculture are significant. According to a study from the Environmental Defense Fund, cropland soils could realistically sequester 0.2 to 0.4 gigatonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year through regenerative practices, even when accounting for socioeconomic constraints that may hinder widescale implementation [5].
By nurturing the microbial life beneath our feet, regenerative agriculture offers a triple win: greater resilience to climate shocks, sustained crop productivity, and reductions in net emissions.
Not An Instant Fix
Despite its promise, regenerative agriculture faces challenges in adoption and scale. Regenerative farming practices are inherently context specific, which can create inter-regional barriers to knowledge-sharing. Additionally, the upfront investment in new equipment, seeds, or composting infrastructure can be costly, if not prohibitive. Finally, degraded soils take time to recover, often resulting in multi-year yield dips before healthy soils can sustain resilient production. In contrast, conventional strategies such as increased watering or chemical fertilisers use in challenging climactic conditions may provide immediate productivity benefits but are unsustainable in the long term [4]. The combination of these pressures often discourages adoption, especially among low-margin, risk-averse farmers who revert to conventional methods when their bottom line is at stake.
Other barriers include limited access to technical support for regenerative practices versus the abundance of technical support from the chemical providers themselves, disincentives from off-takers, and regulatory frameworks that continue to favour monoculture or input-intensive farming. Advances in soil carbon measurement are creating opportunities for soil-based carbon markets that reward farmers for the additional carbon they sequester in the ground, but credibility, verification and demand challenges remain.
These challenges highlight that the transition is not purely technical; it’s relational. Farmers need access to knowledge networks and peer learning, as well as tailored financial collaboration to adopt regenerative agriculture practices. Partnerships between the private sector, governments and local cooperatives are vital to de-risk the agricultural transition and bridge the gap between ambition and implementation. The spirit of COP30, where nations convene to share knowledge and commitments, reflects the same principle required at the field level: collaboration across communities and supply chains to enable systemic change.
Latin America as a Case Study
Latin America has long been at the forefront of experimenting with sustainable farming practices and provides instructive examples. As climate change increasingly threatens conventional agriculture, smallholder and commercial farmers alike are exploring regenerative agriculture and drawing lessons from LATAM.
In Argentina during the 1960s and 1970s, conventional tillage practices led to severe soil erosion under short, intense rains and strong winds. Through collaboration and experimentation, farmers and researchers uncovered the potential of no-till agriculture in restoring soil quality and preventing further erosion. By 2011, over 23 million hectares, nearly 79 per cent of grain-cropped land, had adopted no-till, resulting in a 4.5-fold increase in productivity with only double the expansion in cropped area, while improving water retention and efficiency [3].
Brazil, the COP30 host, is now working towards the goals of their ABC+ Plan for Low-Carbon Agriculture. The plan was launched in 2020, to run until 2030, and is set to build on the success of the original ABC Plan (implemented 2010 to 2020) that was responsible for reducing an estimated 193.7 million tons of CO2 through the implementation of sustainable agricultural practices [6]. An important element of Brazil’s success is that smallholder adoption of these practices has often been supported by technical assistance and local cooperatives, demonstrating the critical role of collaboration to transform policy into practice. Latin America’s progress demonstrates that when farmers, cooperatives, and policymakers work together, regenerative practices can thrive. COP30 provides a platform to build on that momentum, connecting local successes to global ambition.
Cordiant’s Approach
At Cordiant, soil health and biodiversity considerations are integral to our investment decisions and management. We engage investees in measuring soil health indicators, such as soil carbon retention, aiming to identify long-term trends through sustainable farming practices.
Our role extends beyond capital provision. By combining expertise in private debt and equity markets, agribusiness operations, commodity trading, logistics, and sustainability, we help farmers navigate the risks of adopting regenerative farming practices. We embed sustainability principles and risk management into loan structures, including tailored covenants and measurable environmental KPIs. This approach supports farmers in scaling practices while simultaneously contributing to broader climate resilience objectives.
COP30 in Belém highlights the critical intersection between agriculture and climate action. Regenerative agriculture offers a viable pathway to transform food systems, mitigate emissions, and improve resilience in a warming world. Backed by thoughtful investment, technical guidance, and enduring partnerships, both smallholders and larger producers can implement regenerative practices that build healthier soils, more resilient economies, and a more stable climate.
References
- OECD. “Progress in National Climate Policy Efforts Remains Insufficient to Achieve 2030 Targets.” OECD, 25 Nov. 2024.
- Crippa, M., Solazzo, E., Guizzardi, D. et al. “Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions.” Nat Food 2, 198–209 (2021).
- Peiretti, R., Dumanski, J. “The Transformation of Agriculture in Argentina through Soil Conservation.” International Soil and Water Conservation Research 2(1): 14–20 (2014).
- World Bank. Regenerative Agriculture in Practice: A Review. 19 Sept. 2024.
- Environmental Defense Fund. The Realizable Magnitude of Carbon Sequestration in Global Cropland Soils. Dec. 2022.
- Ministério da Agricultura e Pecuária (MAPA) & Secretaria de Inovação, Desenvolvimento Sustentável, Irrigação e Cooperativismo (SDI). (2023). ABC Plan: Ten years of success and a brand new sustainable agriculture production. Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (MAPA). https://repositorio-dspace.agricultura.gov.br/handle/1/2118