No, World Bank didn’t advocate for ‘abolition of farming’ to reduce carbon emissions

What's the claim?

Numerous social media posts claim that the World Bank has allegedly directed Western countries to abolish farming completely by 2030 to achieve net-zero emissions. These posts include a screenshot of an article titled "World Bank Signs Treaty With Western Nations To Completely Abolish Farming," attributed to one Sean Adl-Tabatabai and purportedly fact-checked by The People's Voice, a well-known fake news source. The article also features an image of World Bank President Ajay Banga. (According to the United Nations, net-zero emissions means 'cutting carbon emissions to a small amount of residual emissions that can be absorbed and durably stored by nature and other carbon dioxide removal measures, leaving zero in the atmosphere.')

Users on platform X (formerly Twitter) shared the screenshot with captions expressing concern about the future of food production and alleging a 'plan to consolidate control of agriculture under a few people, including Bill Gates, a WEF (World Economic Forum) Young Global Leader.' Archived versions of such posts, also shared on Facebook, are available here, here, and here.

Screenshots of the viral posts. (Source: X/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the article in question also heavily misinterprets a World Bank report to make false claims. 

What did we find?

The claim originates from a May 21 article (archived here) published by The People's Voice, formerly NewsPunch, a known purveyor of fake news and misinformation. Logically Facts has previously fact-checked several of their claims here, here, and here.

The article in question suggests that the World Bank instructed Western nations to abolish farming entirely by 2030 to achieve net zero emissions, supposedly based on a memo. Upon checking the link of the 'memo' cited in the article, we found an abstract of a publication titled "Recipe for a Livable Planet: Achieving Net Zero Emissions in the Agrifood System." 

The 'Recipe For A Livable Planet' report

Upon downloading and reviewing the report, we discovered that The People's Voice article had misinterpreted the report "Recipe For A Livable Planet," released on May 06 by the World Bank. The financial institution noted that the report is the 'first comprehensive global strategy to reduce the agrifood system's impact on climate change while ensuring global food security.' (Agrifood refers to the commercial production of food by farming and also includes all the processes in the agricultural food chain.)

The World Bank report highlighted that agrifood significantly contributes to climate change, accounting for nearly one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. However, it also underscores the potential for the agrifood sector to mitigate these emissions through cost-effective measures. It suggests that annual investments would need to increase approximately 18 times to $260 billion a year to halve current agrifood emissions by 2030, paving the way for achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

Does the report specifically ask Western Nations to 'abolish farming?'

No, the report does not ask Western countries for such measures. We did not encounter any such language in the report. 

It discusses ways for both national and global action. It emphasizes that every country, regardless of income level, can pursue pathways to achieve net-zero agrifood emissions while advancing development.

For high-income countries, the report suggests promoting renewable energy in the agri-food sector and transitioning to more sustainable diets. These nations can also offer support to low- and middle-income countries in adopting low-emission agrifood practices, it said.

It mentions that middle-income countries, where three-quarters of cost-effective emission reduction opportunities exist, can focus on reducing emissions from livestock and rice, investing in healthy soils, and addressing food loss and waste. Low-income countries are encouraged to prioritize green growth, particularly by preserving and restoring forests, which can effectively reduce emissions while promoting sustainable economic development.

It further notes that "the transition must achieve procedural, distributive, and restorative justice to avoid the adverse health, social, economic, and environmental impacts from previous food system changes."

Logically Facts has also reached out to the World Bank for a comment, and this fact-check will be updated if and when we receive a response.

The verdict

The viral claim concerning a directive attributed to the World Bank purportedly instructing Western nations to abolish farming entirely by 2030 to achieve net-zero emissions is based on the misinterpretation of recommendations of a report released by the financial institution. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.