Rice is the main food staple for 3.5 billion people, is grown by close to 150 million smallholders, and supports the livelihoods of 1 billion people. Despite being one of the world’s most important resources for food security in the face of climate change, rice is not a well-known or well-understood impact finance opportunity for global sustainable investment.
The report’s recommendations identify opportunities to adopt sustainable finance innovation to accelerate the rice sector’s sustainable transition. It proposes three innovative finance solutions to support sustainable rice production in line with countries’ Paris Agreement climate targets—these include issuing ‘rice bonds’ and leveraging global climate finance as practical pathways to attract private sector investment for climate-smart rice production.
