| Sumario: | Effective climate action depends not only on national commitments, but on the capacity of subnational governments to operationalize them. In Brazil, this challenge is particularly salient due to the country's size, socio-biodiversity, and decentralized model of public service delivery.
Within this context, local public food procurement represents one of the most implementation-ready policy instruments for delivering climate mitigation with adaptation co-benefits. Programs such as the Food Acquisition Programme (PAA) and the National School Feeding Programme (PNAE) are internationally recognised for integrating food security, sustainable agriculture, local economic development and nutrition. However, their contribution to climate mitigation remains promising, but underdeveloped. Persistent governance gaps, uneven institutional capacity, and limited coordination across sectors and levels of government constrain their effective alignment with Brazil's Climate Plan.
Brazil's Municipalities face persistent structural barriers that limit the contribution of public food procurement to climate objectives. These include: fragmented governance across education, agriculture, environment, and planning sectors; uneven institutional capacity to redesign procurement practices; and limited tools and evidence to assess and communicate the climate, environmental, and socio-economic impacts of procurement decisions. These challenges align directly with the identified needs, particularly the requirement to strengthen multilevel climate governance and translate national climate ambitions into operational policies.
This concept note on co-creating a living lab for locally led climate adaptation will build on ongoing capacity-building efforts with municipal and state governments by responding directly to the objectives of strengthening climate governance, multilevel coordination and implementation capacity. It operationalises the link between food procurement and climate policy, creating practical pathways for municipalities and states to align existing mandates and budgets with national climate commitments.
Local and state governments struggle to implement national climate plans due to the lack of capacity to fully implement existing concrete policy instruments within their direct control. Local public food procurement offers a tangible solution to this challenge. It enables municipalities to act on climate mitigation while delivering co-benefits such as local economic development, resilient livelihoods, and improved access to nutritious and culturally appropriate food.
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