Accounting for 17% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the agriculture sector is both driving the global temperature to rise at an alarming rate, and facing high risks linked to climate change. As the world transitions to a more sustainable and net-zero future, fundamental shifts are taking place in nearly all economic sectors. With these come major credit, market, and operational implications for financial institutions and their clients. 

Financial institutions working with the agriculture sector face multiple transition risks such as policy changes, technological shifts, and changes in consumer preferences, in addition to important physical climate hazards such as temperature rise, extreme weather events, water stress, and wildfires. 

This brief provides banks, investors, insurers, as well as their clients with a baseline understanding of the key physical and transition climate-related risks faced by the agriculture and aquaculture sectors. It aims at empowering professionals to integrate these risks into their institution’s strategy and operations through case studies and risk management recommendations for each risk identified.

This resource is part of a series of briefing notes covering major economic sectors and their associated physical and transition climate risks including briefing notes on the real estate, oil and gas and industrials sectors. Stay tuned for new resources on the transport, metals and mining and power generation sectors.