During the First Movers Coalition for Food panel discussion as part of the World Economic Forum ongoing in Davos, Switzerland on 18 January 2024
 

Davos, 19 January 2024. The 54th World Economic Forum raised the theme “Rebuilding Trust”, held from 15-19 January 2024 in Davos, Switzerland. Annually, world leaders from governance and business sectors gather to discuss crucial global issues. The theme of Sustainability related to climate change, nature and energy (A Long Term Strategy for Climate, Nature and Energy) was one of the agendas discussed, including the food system.

The food system contributes as much as 30% of greenhouse gas emissions. Consequently, it is necessary to increase investment in low-carbon products for commodities such beef cattle, dairy products, corn, rice, soybeans, and palm oil to enhance sustainability.

The First Movers Coalition for Food (FMC4Food) discussion panel highlighted panelists Ramon Laguarta, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, Axton Salim, Director of PT Indofood Sukses Makmur Tbk, Megan Scarcella, Executive Director Eleven Eleven, Gilberto Tomazini, Global CEO JBS and was moderated by Steve Sedgwick, CNBC anchor.

Axton Salim stated, “Food security can be challenging among developing countries such as Indonesia, where access to quality food is still difficult. Therefore, affordability is the key. Thus, it is critical to keep innovating in food production without imposing excessive costs on consumers.”

Axton Salim participated in the First Movers Coalition for Food panel discussion held during WEF 2024
 

Axton presented various initiatives and innovations done by Indofood. “As a Total Food Solutions Company that operates at all stages of the food production process, from raw materials to products distributed into the market, we continue to address gaps and challenges throughout the food system. This includes implementing low-carbon initiatives throughout the value chain, from upstream to downstream," he explained.

From the upstream, the Indofood agribusiness group has implemented sustainable agricultural practices to support the Indonesian government’s target to achieve Net Sink from the forestry and land use sector by 2030 through zero deforestation and degradation of HCV, zero new planting on peatlands, zero burning for clearing land and replanting, as well as preserving around 25,000 hectares of high conservation value areas. 84% of the fertilizer used by Indofood is organic.

“In smaller scale agribusiness, the farmers’ livelihood must be prioritized, such as what we have implemented with the potato farmers in Indonesia. What we do is we prepare good seeds, educate farmers to implement good farming practices, thereby increasing productivity and minimizing the use of fertilizer. I believe that this can improve the farmers’ economy,” he said.

Concurring with the points conveyed by Axton, PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta elaborated, “There is already enough data to show that the transition from conventional to sustainable agriculture can repair profit and loss by increasing productivity and reducing costs. The transition process is not instant, but takes time.”

Left to right: Steve Sedgwick, CNBC anchor as moderator leading the discussion with Ramon Laguarta (CEO PepsiCo), Gilberto Tomazoni (Global CEO JBS), Megan Scarsella (Executive Director Eleven Eleven Foundation), Axton Salim (Director of Indofood)

Gilberto Tomazoni, Global CEO of JBS also emphasized the importance of technology in reducing emissions. “We have used technology to produce supplements for cows that can reduce emissions. In the first year, we succeeded in reducing emissions. However, the meat prices increased along with it. In the following year, with greater number of cows, the results are differed. Emissions reduced by 90% and did not affect the selling price of meat. This case demonstrated that the application of innovation and technology has an impact on reducing emissions," he said.

Megan Scarsella, Executive Director of the Eleven Eleven Foundation, as a representative of Civil Society, considers that multi-stakeholder collaboration is needed to overcome climate issues. “We are aware that even if every philanthropic institution focused on climate issues, it will not be enough. Multi-stakeholder collaboration is needed to address the climate issue. I give my accolades to the private sector by stepping in to tackle climate issues, especially its role in accelerating and increasing farmers' capabilities."

In improving the food system, one should not fixate on one aspect but must cover the entire value chain. "In the context of Indofood, apart from agriculture, we also look at the manufacturing aspects, such as our use of energy with 70% renewable energy originating from biomass and solar PV," said Axton.

The necessity in paying attention to all aspects of the value chain was also agreed upon by other panelists in the discussion.