TWN Info Service on Sustainable Agriculture
2 July 2025
Third World Network

Dear friends and colleagues

What will it take to get fossil fuels out of our food systems?

Is a fossil fuel free food system possible? A new report from the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) explores this question.

The report – Fuel to Fork: What will it take to get fossil fuels out of our food systems? – reveals that our food system is deeply dependent on fossil fuels – consuming 15% of all fossil fuels and 40% of global petrochemicals, largely via synthetic fertilizers and plastic packaging. Yet it’s being left out of the climate conversation. As other sectors begin to decarbonize, Big Oil is betting on petrochemicals – making food systems a key growth frontier for fossil fuels.

With geopolitical tensions once again pushing up oil prices, the report highlights the growing risks of tying food prices to fossil fuel volatility – and the urgent need to delink food from fossil fuels.

The report warns that many industry-led ‘tech fixes’ – like ‘blue’ ammonia and digital ag – risk entrenching fossil fuel use for decades. Instead, it offers a blueprint for a just transition to fossil fuel-free food systems: phasing out chemical inputs, investing in agroecology, and rebuilding resilient local food systems.

With best wishes,
Third World Network

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FUEL TO FORK: WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO GET FOSSIL FUELS OUT OF OUR FOOD SYSTEMS?

https://ipes-food.org/report-summary/fuel-to-fork/
Report Summary, June 2025

Fossil fuels are the lifeblood of the food industry.

They are deeply embedded in every part of the food chain – accounting for at least 15% of total fossil fuel use globally – and their use in food systems is accelerating. As fossil fuel extraction continues to expand, and decarbonization strategies focus on energy and transport, the oil and gas industry is increasingly turning to petrochemicals – particularly agrochemicals and plastic food packaging – as its next growth frontier. Governments agreed at COP28 to “transition away from fossil fuels,” yet action on food systems is missing.

Fossil-based fertilizers and plastic food packaging have become critical lifelines for oil and gas companies, offering a new way to keep fossil fuels flowing even as other sectors begin to decarbonize. Ultra-processed foods are the ultimate expression of fossil-fueled food systems – born from commodity crops produced with fossil-based agrochemicals, harvested with fossil-fueled machinery, shaped by energy-intensive industrial processing, wrapped in layers of plastic packaging, and shipped around the world.

At the same time, major agribusiness corporations are aggressively pushing solutions that only deepen dependency on fossil fuels and agrochemicals while introducing new environmental and public health risks. Meanwhile major food corporations are actively working to block or weaken environmental and public health policies aimed at reducing plastic use and curbing ultra-processed foods.

We can’t tackle climate change unless we get fossil fuels out of food systems, yet this remains a major blind spot in climate and food policy debates.

Key findings from the report include:

• 40% of all global petrochemicals are consumed by food systems, mainly in the form of synthetic fertilizers and plastic packaging for food and beverages.
• One-third of all petrochemicals go toward producing synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, making them the single biggest fossil fuel consumer in agriculture.
• 99% of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides are derived from fossil fuels.
• At least 3.5% of global plastics are used in food production, and 10% in food and drink packaging.
• Fossil fuel-dependent food systems are dangerously vulnerable to price shocks, with spikes in the price of oil and gas triggering surges in fertilizer and food prices – putting millions at risk of hunger.
• While food transportation relies on fossil fuels, its role is relatively small compared to the broader fossil fuel footprint of food systems, and it is rapidly electrifying.
• Industry-promoted ‘blue’ ammonia fertilizers, ‘synthetic biology’ approaches, and high-tech, digital farming tools are expensive, energy-intensive, and risk keeping food systems tethered to fossil fuels and farmers dependent on agrochemicals.
• These technologies are controlled by a handful of powerful corporations, locking farmers into industrial monoculture systems, and deepening existing power imbalances in food systems.
• Most of the bioplastics introduced to replace conventional plastics are made from industrially-grown food crops and synthetic chemicals. They can leach harmful chemicals into the environment, and may compete with food production for land and resources.

Food systems are a critical front in the fight against fossil fuels.

To break industrial food’s fossil fuel addiction, we must phase out agrochemicals, and scale up agroecological farming, local food supply chains, and healthy food environments. This transition is already underway, and if accelerated, it can deliver healthier, more just and climate-resilient food systems.

What it will take to get fossil fuels out of food systems:

• Advance a just energy transition that expands and equitably distributes renewable energy;
• Phase out agrochemicals;
• Promote agroecological farming;
• Rebuild local food supply chains;
• Reduce plastic by scaling up reuse systems and holding corporations accountable;
• Cut ultra-processed food consumption and build healthy food access;
• Scale up clean and electric cooking and eliminate food waste;
• Rein in corporate power and democratize food systems governance.