The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced former Vice President Al Gore will be the opening keynote speaker at the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate Summit.
The summit, scheduled for May 8-10 in Washington, D.C., involves partners working to increase and accelerate investments supporting climate-smart agriculture and food systems, according to a Feb. 14 news release.
“We are honored to have former Vice President Al Gore join us in Washington this May to kick off the AIM for Climate Summit,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the release. “He has been on the forefront of the climate crisis for more than 40 years and is a leader in the international response to combating climate change. His participation in the summit underscores the critical role agriculture innovation plays in addressing this global issue.”
The summit was created at COP26 in 2021, and is co-led by the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates with a goal of creating partnerships and solutions for agriculture and climate change, the release reported. In the 2022 COP27, Vilsack announced the U.S. will host the summit, and it will be supported by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research.
AIM for Climate has led to an increased investment amounting to more than $8 billion while launching 30 “innovation sprints” and expanding to 275 partners from around the world, according to the release.
It was described as a premier event that works to raise ambition, build collaborations and share knowledge and solutions leading up to COP28, the release reported. Other keynote speakers include Vilsack and Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, who is the United Arab Emirates Minister of Climate Change and Environment.
There are four main goals of the summit, according to the release. The first is to “foster and enable co-creation and multi-stakeholder partnership” through dialogue, activities and interaction with the audience. Secondly, it is to make sure people are heard about their stories by including gender, youth, indigenous and regional representation.
The third concern is that the summit gets the message out about resilience and hope for the future by displaying the possibilities of the 21st century, the release reported. The fourth goal is to create a platform to highlight partner contributions and create new partnerships, while also showing domestic and international climate-smart agriculture and food initiatives.
Partners can host breakout sessions, host site tours and make presentations in an interactive exhibit hall, according to the release. The deadline is Feb. 24, and more information can be found at the AIM for Climate Summit website at summit.aimforclimatechange.org.
