Embedded Files
Scaling UP
We held our Global Policy and Action Dialogue on 9 October 2024. You can read a summary of the Dialogue on the TCA Accelerator website.
Participants explored policy levers/entry points where application of true cost accounting food systems decision-making can deliver improved outcomes for people and nature (e.g. repurposing subsidies, incentives, taxes, regulations, land use reforms), as well as how TCA can serve as an accountability tool for commitments made by countries and private sector actors engaged in global fora (e.g. CBD, UNFCCC, SDGs, G20, etc.). With an eye to the goal of mainstreaming TCA by 2030, participants identified the most strategic opportunities and barriers to achieve this objective.
Before the Dialogue, participants were asked to identify hard problems related to scaling TCA in Global Policy. These problems formed the basis of the conversation (view themes below) and allowed participants to discuss strategies and solutions to overcome these issues.
On 26 November, we held our Private Sector Dialogue. Read our blog post summarizing the conversation.
Building from recent case studies and capacity-building initiatives led by TCA community members, participants in this dialogue track discussed how to further mainstream TCA in private sector decision-making. They explored the lessons learned from past initiatives to identify barriers and opportunities, and considered how TCA can offer a valuable tool to the private sector among shifting business and regulatory dynamics.
These themes shaped the discussion on barriers and opportunities to scaling application of TCA in the private sector.
Scaling OUT
Our Dialogue focused on Research and Methodologies, called 'True Cost Accounting Evaluations', took place on 11 December.
The 2018 TEEBAgriFood Evaluation Framework established a common architecture for applications of true cost accounting to assess agrifood systems, enjoying widespread consensus on the required elements of true cost accounting applications and inspiring dozens of public and private sector case studies.
However, the TEEBAgriFood Framework was not prescriptive regarding what methodologies, indicators, or data practitioners should use. Many in the TCA community support this flexible approach as it affords context-specific adaptations and is seen as appropriate and necessary given food systems’ complexity. Others have argued that this lack of a standardized approach presents a critical barrier to mainstreaming TCA’s uptake due to the cost and complexity of custom analyses and difficulty comparing across TCA assessments, hampering decision-makers’ ability to understand trade-offs and solutions in a consistent and useful manner. Proponents of a harmonized approach also point to the potential for TCA to be co-opted as a greenwashing tool without standardization.
Participants in this workshop explored the tension between these perspectives and the extent to which greater consensus is possible and necessary to meet the goal to scale TCA implementation by 2030.
These were the themes identified by participants through their pre-work, and discussed in the workshop.
Our next Dialogue will be held on January 15, and will look at True Cost Accounting for Finance and Investment in sustainable food systems.
Financing landscape level food system transitions is emerging as a critical strategy for solving what some today are calling a polycrisis. Participants in this dialogue will discuss investments that use True Cost Accounting or similar holistic approaches to evaluate and support positive outcomes across multiple capitals - natural, human, social, financial – and the tools and data available to support such efforts. They will explore lessons learned from initiatives that are either succeeding at the intended scale of impact, or should be succeeding but have encountered barriers to scale. The objective is to learn from each other, identify what is needed next, and to develop a shared strategy that can help the market mature for financing food system transitions as we pursue our goal to dramatically scale TCA implementation by 2030.
Page updated
Report abuse