What COP30 attendees ate and why it matters for climate action

When the 30th Conference of Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change wrapped up in Belem, Brazil in November end, much of the attention stayed fixed on the outcomes and familiar deadlocks. But away from the negotiating rooms, a quieter shift on climate action had already taken place on the plates of COP attendees. 

For the first time in the history of the UN climate process, food served at a COP was sourced at scale from family farmers, indigenous communities and agroecological producers; family farms were included in the United Nations (UN) budget as an official food supplier. 

At least 30 per cent of the food available during the summit came from Brazil’s smallholder and agroecological networks, a deliberate break from the carbon-intensive, industrial food systems that have long fed global climate conferences.

In an unprecedented move, all restaurants at COP30 were required to source a minimum of 30 per cent of their food from family farms and agroecological producers. This change was a result of sustained pressure from civil society, led by the campaign 'Na Mesa da COP30', also referred to as COP30 Food Initiative. 

“We strongly believe food systems need to be discussed at COPs, but those conversations remain abstract unless negotiators see tangible examples,” said Fabrício Muriana, co-founder, Instituto Regenera, while talking to Down To Earth during the conference. 

Instituto Regenera, which was central to making the initiative happen, works with farmers in the Amazon and Atlantic Forest and has been working in Belém since 2020. 

“If we have some negotiators going there (restaurants) and seeing agroecology is possible, then there will be more room for agroecology to feature more seriously in agriculture-related discussions and documents,” he said. 

From policy to plate

More than 80 cooperatives, associations and producer networks — representing around 8,000 farming families across the State of Pará — supplied food to COP30’s official catering system. 

While all restaurants were mandated to meet the 30 per cent threshold, some went far beyond it. The largest of these was the Restaurante da Sociobio, a restaurant catering to COP staff, volunteers and later delegates, which sourced nearly 100 per cent of its ingredients from family farming and agroecological producers. 

Over the course of the summit, the restaurant served over 70,000 meals, priced at R$40 per plate (40 Brazilian Real), amounting to a R$2.8 million operation (around $525,000), informed Muriana.

“This was delicious, nutritious and culturally rooted food, for less than €7 a full plate. The food came from 60 cooperatives, associations and networks, and all that money was shared by the operators. No financial services were available, so they took all the risks,” he said.

Another major outlet, Lacitata, was also closely linked to local family farming networks. The menus brought together ingredients from Brazil’s diverse biomes. Indigenous produce featured prominently, with Açaí and Brazilian nuts harvested by the Kayapó people forming key ingredients, chosen both for their cultural significance and their capacity to meet the scale demanded by the conference.

“We never imagined our food would reach so far. It brings joy to know that our work is part of something so significant,” Ana Cláudia Souza, a farmer associated with the Agricultural Cooperative of Producers of Belém do Pará (Copabel), was quoted by COP30 in a statement. 

The road to 30%

The initiative established a new benchmark for how major international events can transform their food systems, one that civil society organisations hope will become the standard for future climate conferences.

But securing this outcome was far from straightforward. It all started with a stark realisation during another high-profile gathering.

In August 2023, Belém hosted the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization Summit, bringing together heads of state from eight countries in the Amazon along with 25,000-30,000 participants. As attendees searched for lunch options, they found only fast food chains, a single overwhelmed restaurant that could barely serve 500 people, and three food trucks.

“It was clear that nobody took care of that. We had to leave the venue for lunch. Simply, there were no good options for people to eat,” Muriana recalls.

During one such lunch break, he was speaking with a local farmer leader who posed a question that would catalyse the entire Na Mesa da COP30 campaign: “We have catering services of our own, and we could serve local food — why didn’t they ask us?”

That question resonated deeply. When COP28 took place in Dubai later that year, Muriana and his colleagues began asking a pointed question of their own: “When will COPs ever offer low carbon emission foods?”

Anticipating government scepticism, Instituto Regenera and partners began an extensive year-and-a-half-long mapping exercise across Pará state in 2023. More than 80 producer networks were mapped, documenting what farmers grew, their production cycles, idle capacity, infrastructure needs, certification status and access to transport and storage. The exercise also identified what support farmers would need — from advance purchase commitments to technical assistance to supply food at scale. 

The proposal initially faced scepticism from officials, who questioned whether small and indigenous producers could reliably supply the required volumes. 

“We knew the government would question whether this was possible,” Muriana said. “So we made sure we could show that the food already existed.”

A January 2025 research paper stated that there were 64,690 agricultural establishments engaged in organic farming, accounting for 1.28 per cent of all agricultural establishments in the country; 76.3 per cent of these were categorised as family farming. 

The campaign then moved from mapping supply to engaging institutions. Organisers approached Brazil’s National Council for Food Security and Nutrition, councils representing indigenous and traditional populations, and the national commission for organic and agroecological production. 

The demands drew directly on Brazil’s existing food and nutrition framework. Under current policy, at least 30 per cent of food for public school meals must be procured from family farms, a share that is set to rise to 45 per cent next year, alongside price premiums for agroecological producers and national dietary guidelines developed by the health ministry that emphasise fresh, culturally appropriate food. 

“We thought we should use all of Brazil’s existing policies as a guide for what would be eaten at COP,” Muriana said. 

In June 2025 in Bonn, the Brazilian government formally announced that at least 30 per cent of food at COP30 would be sourced from family farms and agroecological producers. 

As COP30 drew closer, caterers and restaurants bidding for contracts were informed that sourcing a minimum of 30 per cent from family farming would be a binding condition. For some, this required reworking supply chains that had long depended on large distributors. To ease the transition, the government introduced advance payments for part of the food procurement, allowing farmers to be paid before delivery. 

Nicole Pita, a food systems scientist with the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) calls the food served at the conference the legacy of COP30. 

“This is a real life story of bringing food of local producers and serving it to the world and it shows showed that feeding a global event can align with climate action, public policy and social justice,” she says while talking to DTE. 

For campaigners, the significance of Na Mesa da COP30 extends beyond a single summit. The challenge is to make sure this does not remain an exception, at COPs or anywhere else, Muriana said.