The FAO Energy team, part of the Climate, Energy and Tenure Division, is working on all forms of renewable energy, chiefly bioenergy, and their relevance for food security and rural development. Today the food sector accounts for around 30 percent of the world’s total energy consumption, emitting more than 20 percent of total GHG emissions.
Modernizing food and agriculture systems is urgently needed but increasing the use of fossil fuels, as was done in the past, may not be an affordable or sustainable option because of climate change and the influence of costly fossil fuels on input prices. Therefore, links between energy and food security are now stronger than before, and this requires food production and agriculture intensification to be gradually decoupled from the use of fossil fuels.
The FAO multi-partner programme on “Energy Smart Food for People and Climate (ESF)” addresses the above challenges. More broadly, ESF helps countries and practitioners to:
• Improve energy efficiency at all stages of the agri-food chain;
• Increase the use of renewable energy;
• Improve access to modern energy services, for example through integrated food and energy production.
