Summary

• The G7 countries made a commitment in 2015 at Elmau to lift 500 million people out of hunger and malnutrition by 2030.
• Living up to this commitment requires policy reforms, innovations, and development finance. This policy brief focuses on development aid finance needed to come near to the G7 commitment.
• Taking into account current aid flows to food systems improvements, the G7 countries would need to increase their current ODA spending on food systems by about US$ 14 billion per annum until 2030 on top of the emergency aid to cope with the acute food crises of 2022 resulting from the Covid-19 crisis and consequences of conflicts (including the Russian war in Ukraine).
• The majority of G7 countries, except France and Germany, have fallen short of the needed scaling of development aid for food systems.
• The upcoming G7 meeting Elmau II in 2022 offers the opportunity to add concrete funding targets to the commitment made in 2015. This policy brief identifies how G7 members might contribute to filling the financing gap for investments to lift 500 million people out of hunger and malnutrition by 2030:
  • The G7 countries would need to spend 0.08 percent of their Gross National Income (GNI) per annum on food systems aid to secure the total required annual funding of US$ 31.7 billion per annum.
  • Considering current spending on food systems of US$ 17.7 billion, G7 countries would need to increase spending by 0.036 percent of their GNI to reach the required additional US$ 14 billion per annum.
  • Providing a basis for G7 policy considerations, the calculations show the implications of two alternative options for sharing the required spending among the G7 countries.

Published as ZEF Policy Brief NO. 39