In April 2025, in an auditorium nestled in the austere, labyrinthian halls of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s headquarters in Rome, a group of 170 researchers, investors, business leaders, advocates, philanthropists, and policymakers, from every continent except Antarctica, gathered for two days in pursuit of an ambitious goal: that the global food system clean up its act — or at least reveal its hidden costs to society — by 2030.
The body of TCA case studies grows each year. These studies have demonstrated food systems’ hidden costs to people and nature, and illuminated a series of staggering numbers of the ‘true cost’ of food systems: $12 trillion per year according to FAO’s latest State of Food and Agriculture report.
Since the historic Rio Declaration in 1992, successive leaders have signed onto ambitious emissions reduction and environmental goals. Global targets have been set for gender equality, poverty reduction, and to widen access to life-saving healthcare. While there have been some significant wins, overall progress on these collective goals remains elusive.
This January, over 140 Nobel and World Food Prize Laureates signed an open letter for “planet friendly ‘moonshot’ efforts” to avert a hunger catastrophe in the next 25 years. In the face of climate change, conflict, and market pressures, the letter called for urgent action to meet the food needs of 9.7 billion people by 2050.
“We have reached a now or never moment for upscaling TCA.”
In 2018, the TEEBAgriFood Evaluation Framework established a common architecture for applications of True Cost Accounting (TCA). This was a landmark in TCA’s development, representing a widespread consensus on the required elements of TCA applications and inspiring dozens of public and private sector case studies.
“It’s a critical time to double down on some of the methods, tools and processes by which we can help businesses maintain this ambition, keep this holistic lens, and really reduce some of that burden…I’m really hopeful that TCA offers an opportunity for the private sector to be good advocates alongside governments and consumers, and create that enabling space and enabling environment that we all need to meet our sustainability goals”.
2024 is a significant year for many reasons. High numbers of regional and national elections have contributed to a constantly shifting political landscape, with the US election still to come next week. At the same time, temperature records have been broken around the world, and reports on the state of biodiversity loss are increasingly dire.
This article is adapted from remarks delivered by TCA Accelerator Director Jenn Yates at the World Farmers Market Coalition (WFMC) General Assembly on True Cost Accounting as a tool to more effectively convey the full value of farmers markets, revealing their multiple benefits for community, health, and nature.
For the first time, leaders at COP28 officially recognized the huge impact the food on our plates has on the world around us. It’s time global leaders took action to maximize the benefits of our food system for people and planet. Adele Jones and Jenn Yates set out the role True Cost Accounting can play in realizing this promise.
Op-Ed in Devex by Alexander Mueller (TMG Think Tank) and Jenn Yates (TCA Accelerator) discusses FAO’s 2023 State of Food And Agriculture report and the need for true cost accounting to transform global food systems and maximize value for people and the planet.