Inspiration, Implementation, and Acceleration: Rabo’s outcomes at COP27

Early Sunday morning, after the bulk of the COP27 attendees had already gone home, the main negotiators managed to reach an agreement that, in a sense, saved this year’s climate summit. After two weeks of consultations, in the words of Egyptian President Sameh Shoukry: visitors to his country's climate summit could leave his country "with fresh hope for the future of the planet."

The key point of this late-hour agreement is that a fund will be set up to compensate poor countries that are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change which is primarily caused by rich countries. In addition, despite global inflation and multiple crises, the summit confirmed that the maximum global temperature increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius, as previously outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement, will be maintained. Unfortunately, however, no ambitious measures or steps were taken to actually accomplish this.
The final result of two weeks of COP27 prompted divided reactions. Developing nations were quite enthusiastic, while most Western countries, particular the U.S. and European nations, including the Netherlands, were disappointed by the outcome.

Key positives for Rabobank

For Rabobank, which was represented in Egypt with a delegation led by two alternating members of the Managing Board, Berry Marttin and Kirsten Konst, as well as the CEO of the Rabo Carbon Bank, Barbara Baarsma, what’s the final taste of COP27? "The final result of COP27 can hardly be called a great success for the world. But we’ve made real progress on several issues with which Rabobank is heavily engaged. So, let's also celebrate the positive outcomes," said Suzanne van Tilburg, Global Head of Food & Energy Networks, who attended COP27 (and preparatory conferences) on the bank’s behalf.

That concrete progress includes Acorn, a Rabobank project that helps companies offset CO2 emissions via the mass engagement of small farmers (so-called "smallholder farmers") in developing countries and by planting fruit trees on their land, thereby creating a revenue model for the small farmers. Two colleagues from the Acorn project — Emma van de Ven, Strategy & Research Lead; and Max Berkelmans, Consultant Finance — traveled with us to Egypt and actively participated in the many meetings over the course of COP27. The two stated that they had received "overwhelmingly positive responses" to their story. "Acorn was ready for COP, and COP turned out to be ready for Acorn. With the Acorn Project, we’re doing exactly what people are looking for right now, and that’s the concrete, scalable implementation of solutions to reduce global carbon emissions," noted Emma van de Ven. In fact, the demand to participate was so high that, after Emma and Max had departed for COP27, a third Acorn Project team member, Harm Haverkort, had to be flown in for the second week of the summit.

Acorn Team signs a "letter of intent"

The Acorn Team also secured some concrete commitments for projects in areas where work with smallholder farmers can already begin. "We signed a letter of intent with the government of El Salvador, stating that we’ll support roughly 20,000 small coffee farmers in the country in making the switch to regenerative agroforestry," explained Max Berkelmans. "And, two other Central American countries that have imposed an explicit moratorium on carbon markets were open to discussing options for collaborating on Acorn. This ensured that we returned to Holland with a very positive feeling."

Another highlight for Rabobank was the COP27-launch of a Soil Health Resolution by Barbara Baarsma, Rabo Carbon Bank’s CEO, with the EU member states and seven African nations as signatories. For next year’s COP28, this marks the start of giving global recognition and rewards to farmers who invest in more sustainable agricultural practices to preserve biodiversity and store carbon. In addition, Rabobank launched a "Carbon Farming paper" with FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN. A more reputable partner for such an initiative could hardly be imagined, which aims to scale up and accelerate climate change solutions with projects like Acorn. "That’s also a perfect fit for this 'Africa COP’. That is to say, that we’re helping small farmers around the world by the hundreds of millions to reduce their carbon emissions," remarked Van Tilburg.

Mega tree-planting project in Brazil

"Upscaling and acceleration" were a recurring theme at COP27, according to Van Tilburg. These concepts also factored into another of Rabobank’s successes in Egypt. This revolves around a mega tree-planting project in Brazil where a group comprised of six companies and banks, including Rabobank, plan on reforesting an area as large as four million acres (comparable to the size of Switzerland) with two billion new trees over the next few years. Financed by the sale of carbon credits, the project, which, according to GD member Berry Marttin, is at unprecedented scale and has special value, made headlines in Brazil and beyond.

The fact that Rabobank's traditionally strong Food & Agri side were able to achieve the most results in Egypt was also apparent by the bank’s heavy agenda setting for food losses in relation to carbon emissions. On behalf of a global coalition of countries (e.g. the Netherlands and EU member states) and companies like Unilever, Managing Board member Kirsten Konst signed a "pledge," an initiative prepared by another colleague in Egypt, Lieke Verhofstad, Food & Energy Networks business developer, to reduce food waste through concrete interventions. Similarly, it was evident time and again during COP27 how much Rabobank’s knowledge, networks, and financing solutions are appreciated. At many meetings, the bank was the only financial institution invited. And Berry Marttin was even the sole private sector speaker during the plenary sessions for COP27's Agriculture Day. During the first week of this year’s climate summit, Marttin made the rounds of the halls and rooms with topics revolving around the food system transition, one of the three pillars in Rabobank’s current vision.

For Marttin, those topics primarily concern food waste, soil health, reforestation, and the true cost of food. Agriculture and, in particular, land use have the potential to reach net zero. My dream is that, eventually, we’ll even achieve a net-positive world. Although it’s complex, it’s possible if we truly work well together. And I did receive hopeful signs of that in Egypt."

Opportunities in the energy transition

Konst also returned excited after attending many sessions concerning the energy transition during the second week of COP27. She said afterwards her sense that, in many cases, the technology is ready but that the key is to accelerate and scale up its implementation had been confirmed. As Konst pointed out, "I’m more convinced than ever that Rabo has a tremendous opportunity to use our knowledge, networks and financial solutions to help our clients make a real impact while simultaneously growing our own business."

Although Rabobank has a far greater influence in Finance and Administration due to our in-depth knowledge and decades of experience in this field, it’s clear that there are real opportunities to contribute towards solutions in the other transition that’s central to the bank — that of the energy world. "We’re already active, for example, with propositions like our energy facilities, our support for energy cooperatives, leasing, and our extensive track record in financing renewable energy projects. Our contribution is recognized, and our leadership is valued. We’re committed to expanding our propositions and portfolio alike in order to fulfil our role and to grow our business. Whether through our interactions with our clients or with each other at the bank, let’s all join forces to scale up clean energy."