A new report from International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) warns that the global food system’s deep dependence on fossil fuels is putting food security and climate goals at risk. Their new report “Fuel to Fork: What Will it Take to Get Fossil Fuels Out of Our Food Systems?” highlights the scale of the problem—and what can be done about it.
The report finds that fossil fuels are embedded in every stage of the industrialized food chain, from the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides on farms, to ultra-processed foods and plastic packaging. These dependencies are not only fueling climate impacts, ecological degradation, and public health consequences—they also expose food systems to economic shocks and supply disruptions, increasing food insecurity.
According to IPES-Food, food systems account for at least 15 percent of global fossil fuel use and consume 40 percent of all petrochemicals. It takes about 10 calories of fossil fuel to produce every calorie of food we eat, a co-author of the report says.
Fossil fuels have reshaped agriculture over the past century, the report finds, powering everything from farm inputs to food processing and packaging formulation. Today, 99 percent of synthetic agrochemicals are fossil fuel derived. And one-third of all petrochemicals are used to produce synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, making them the single biggest fossil fuel consumer in agriculture.
Beyond the farm, the food system burns fossil fuels during energy-intensive manufacturing, processing, packaging, and distribution to retailers and end consumers, which together account for the largest share of fossil fuel usage in food systems, the report finds.
Ultra-processed foods—manufactured from commodity crops that are grown with fossil-based agrochemicals, harvested with fossil-fueled machinery, and packaged in plastic—are the ultimate expression of fossil-fueled food systems.
These practices are fueling climate impacts, public health risks, and food insecurity, according to IPES-Food. Agrochemical production releases significant greenhouse gases, while pesticides rank among the top global drivers of biodiversity loss and cause an estimated 385 million poisonings each year. Chronic exposure—disproportionately affecting rural and frontline communities—is linked to cancer, reproductive harm, and neurological disorders.
At the same time, fossil fuel dependence leaves food systems exposed to oil and gas price shocks, which can drive up the cost of production inputs and thereby food itself—putting millions at risk of hunger. As Raj Patel, a contributing IPES-Food expert to the report, notes, “[t]ethering food to fossil fuels means tying dinner plates to oil rigs and conflict zones.”
As energy and transport sectors begin to decarbonize, the report warns, oil and gas companies are turning to food systems as their next growth frontier. Fertilizers and plastic packaging now account for 74 percent of petrochemical production and are quickly becoming pillars of fossil fuel companies’ growth strategies.
Meanwhile, public and private financing for fossil fuels continues to rise. In 2024, global banks invested US$869 billion in the sector, while governments spent US$2 trillion on fossil fuel subsidies and another US$540 billion on chemical-intensive agriculture.
Even as the fossil fuel industry expands and food supply chains grow longer and more resource-intensive, food systems remain glaringly absent from climate negotiations. This blind spot, IPES-Food says, allows major corporations to push high-tech, costly fixes that fail to tackle the root causes of fossil fuel dependence—and, in some cases, risk entrenching the problem.
But the report makes clear that there is hope. “Fossil fuel-free food systems are not only possible, they already exist, as the world’s Indigenous people teach us,” says Georgina Catacora-Vargas, a contributing IPES-Food expert.
The report calls for a holistic transformation of food systems that cuts ties with oil, gas, and coal while embracing agroecology, Indigenous and regenerative farming, local supply chains, and democratic food governance.
To address climate change, food insecurity, and public health, the authors urge governments and policymakers to seize the opportunity at COP30 to phase out fossil fuel and agrochemical subsidies and invest in a just, fossil-free food future.
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Photo courtesy of Valeriy Kryukov, Unsplash
