News

From ‘Copenhagen Commitment’ to ‘Seoul Declaration’

4 June 2021

With the ambition to create the world’s leading forum for concrete partnerships to deliver on the SDGs and the Paris Agreement, Denmark hosted one of the largest climate summits in 2018. Setting the precedent for a global moment to connect public and private players, heads of states and sustainable leaders from across the world committed to develop, accelerate, and scale concrete market-driven solutions within food and agriculture, water, energy, cities and circular economy. Now, the Copenhagen Commitment to Action receives a second boost with the Seoul Declaration as a steppingstone towards COP26 in Glasgow.

From May 30 to 31, the 2021 P4G Seoul Summit hosted by Korea gathered 68 world leaders to advance climate action through innovative public-private partnerships. Denmark, as a founding P4G partner, was present with more than 50 speakers including His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik besides a long line of Danish ministers and top industry leaders.

A commitment to build back better and greener

The successful summit was held under the theme ‘inclusive green growth towards carbon neutrality’. Participants and signees of the Seoul Declaration agreed on the importance of leaving no one nor any country behind as we recover and overcome COVID-19 and its economic impact.

As COVID-19 has brought the opportunity to build back better and greener, the parties agreed to provide a strong foundation for long-erm climate policies and actions as countries and the international community define recovery measures rebuild the economy.

Looking forward to the commitments to be made at the G7, G20 and other international fora, the declaration set out an agreement to further strengthen cooperation to realize the goals of the Paris Agreement while rendering full support for a successful COP26 to be held in Glasgow in November 2021.

Emergency aid biscuits for refugee camps

A tangible example P4G's impact is in Ethiopia where almost 40 per cent of children under the age of five experience stunting, impaired growth and development, due to malnutrition. On top, more than 13 million smallholder farmers are unable to participate in commercial value chains to sell their nutritious crops and ingredients due to market barriers. The Ethiopian disconnect highlights the opportunity to boost sustainable sourcing from local producers to ensure better nutrition for local communities. A biscuit seeks to bridge the gap.

With a full value chain approach, The Sustainable Food Partnership connects small-scale farmers to consumer and builds on a collaborative partnership model connecting an Ethiopian biscuit manufacturer with global leaders in food tech and food production.

Led by DanChurchAid, the project seeks to improve nutrition and food security through the production of an affordable, nutritious biscuit targeting children and women in both commercial outlets and refugee communities. As importantly, the project creates local jobs and livelihood opportunities through a sustainable business model with focus on local production and distribution. With initial funding by P4G, the partnership has now received $500,000 to scale of the project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lro1jEt4gOE