Climate Finance Week at FAO: Advancing Partnerships for Climate-Resilient Food Systems

Climate Finance Week at FAO:  

Advancing Partnerships for Climate-Resilient Food Systems 

8-12 September 2025 | Rome, Italy (Hybrid)

From 8 to 12 September 2025, FAO Headquarters in Rome hosted a week of action on climate finance for food and agriculture systems, bringing together governments, development banks, international organizations, and partners to explore solutions for a just and sustainable transformation. 

Within this broader “Climate Finance Week,” two flagship gatherings took place: the first Global Meeting of the Food Systems Integrated Program (FSIP) and the FAST Partnership All Members Meeting 2025. The FSIP meeting convened government officials from 32 country projects alongside the GEF Secretariat, FAO, IFAD, partner agencies, the private sector, youth, and Indigenous Peoples. The FAST Partnership meeting, held both in person and online, united governments, development banks, producer organizations, and other partners to review progress, share lessons, and co-design the 2026–2027 workplan toward COP30. 

FSIP Global Meeting (10–12 September) 

The FSIP Global Meeting, convened by FAO and IFAD with support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), marked the first time that representatives from 32 participating countries gathered in person to advance the programme’s ambition of transforming food systems at scale through integrated approaches, thematic hubs, and stronger governance. 

For the Agri-PDB Platform, this was an important moment to connect with FSIP stakeholders and outline our role. As a global network of 140 Public Development Banks, the Platform is positioned to: 

• support FSIP country projects involving national development banks — such as Ethiopia (DBE), Kenya (AFC), Tanzania (TADB), Mexico (FIRA), South Africa (Land Bank), Philippines (Land Bank), and Uganda (UDB) — by providing capacity-building, practical tools, and peer-to-peer learning opportunities . 

While our engagement in FSIP is still evolving, we see the programme as a key entry point for positioning PDBs as strategic actors in food systems transformation, helping to embed long-term institutional capacity and impact. 

FAST Partnership All Members Meeting (12 September) 

As part of the FAST Partnership All Members Meeting, the Agri-PDB Platform organized a dedicated session on strengthening collaboration between Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and National Development Banks (NDBs). The session positioned the Platform as a strategic initiative supporting climate action in agriculture and showcased its complementarities with partners. 

Key highlights from the session included: 

• FAO’s ABC-MAP tool – assessing the environmental impact of agricultural policies and investments. 

• UNDP’s rural financial inclusion initiatives – demonstrating complementarities between credit, insurance, and inclusive finance. 

• APRACA perspective – highlighted climate-oriented initiatives in agriculture, including projects from Land Bank of the Philippines, innovative credit-guarantee and insurance schemes in Nepal, and value chain financing training with the Bhutan Development Bank. 

• AFRACA perspective – showcased Crédit Agricole du Maroc’s climate strategy, a partnership between CAM and BAGRI Niger, and joint efforts by BRD Rwanda, Nigerian PDBs, and CAM to integrate climate finance into their portfolios. Looking ahead, AFRACA will also host the 8th World Congress on Rural and Agricultural Finance this October in Kenya, a key milestone to carry these discussions forward. 

• IDFC/Finance in Common (FiCS) – presenting concrete examples of MDB–NDB collaboration toward COP30. 

Through this exchange, the Platform underlined the importance of partnerships to scale climate finance for food systems and demonstrated how PDBs can drive collective action by combining global vision with localized expertise. 

Public Development Banks (PDBs) are central to transforming food systems, yet securing climate resilience funding remains their greatest challenge. Both the FSIP and FAST initiatives are laying the groundwork for a pivotal role for national PDBs and for fostering deeper collaboration between PDBs and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs). 

The Agri-PDB Platform’s engagement in both FSIP and FAST highlights its growing role as a convener, knowledge hub, and advocate for PDBs within the global climate finance ecosystem. The Platform is helping to position PDBs as strategic leaders in the transition toward inclusive, climate-resilient, and sustainable food systems.