Complacency is escalating the costs of eradicating hunger by 2030

Press release

Bonn, May 29, 2024. In the fight against global hunger, the human and financial costs of complacency are alarming. As a result of recent developments – including growing conflicts, the climate crisis and economic slowdowns – and the lack of concerted global action, achieving the established goal of the United Nations of Zero Hunger by 2030 seems increasingly infeasible. Even reaching the G7 nations’ commitment made under Germany’s leadership of lifting 500 million people out of hunger and malnutrition by 2030 has become almost twice as expensive compared to taking action four years ago. 

Nevertheless, a study conducted by the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn shows that by implementing ten short-term measures with immediate impact and high potential for hunger reduction, the G7 commitment can still be achieved in the next six years by increasing investments in food and agriculture by US$ 27 billion per year. This is an increase by 90% compared to an earlier estimate of the same authors from ZEF and FAO four years ago. In particular school- feeding programs, humanitarian assistance and social protection initiatives could offer low-cost, fast, high-impact solutions. 

However, the cost of additional investments for eradicating hunger by 2030 using the proposed measures would escalate to US$ 90 billion annually. Therefore, if Zero Hunger is to become a reality, short-term interventions will need to be combined with long-term investments that can have a lasting impact beyond 2030. To this end, a comprehensive innovation agenda is needed that balances short-term impactful interventions with additional public and private investments to sustainably enhance the productivity of global food systems. The ZEF study estimates that these measures would require additional investments of USD 21 billion annually to end hunger by 2040.

Joachim von Braun, Distinguished Professor at ZEF, notes: "To move from policy to action, significant scaling of investments and strategic targeting of interventions to reach the most vulnerable with the most cost-effective solutions are urgently needed to avoid further escalation of costs and human suffering."

Study and Policy Brief

The ZEF study is available at bit.ly/ZEF_SDG2_2024 and the related policy brief at bit.ly/ZEF_SDG2_2024_pb.

Press release in German

Press release in German here.

Contact for media

Joachim von Braun, jvonbraun(at)uni-bonn.de

Summary/notes to editors

• The ZEF-study estimates investment needs and priority interventions to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger).
• It follows from an earlier cost estimate carried out by ZEF and FAO in 2020 which has been updated to reflect changes in timeframes and circumstances. The 2020-study is available at bit.ly/ZEF_FAO_SDG2[1]
• The updated ZEF 2024-study is available at bit.ly/ZEF_SDG2_2024 and the related policy brief at bit.ly/ZEF_SDG2_2024_pb.

Two scenarios are presented in the 2024 study: 

(1) Urgency for 2030 - actions with short-term impactful investments:

• Meeting the G7 commitment of lifting 500 million people out of hunger and malnutrition by 2030 could be achieved by increasing existing investments by USD 27 billion annually (or US$ 146 billion in total between 2025 and 2030). This is more than double the estimate of USD 11-14 billion annually projected in 2020.
• The ten short-term measures can lift about 700 million people out of hunger and malnutrition until 2030 at additional costs of US$ 93 billion annually (or US$ 512 billion in total).

(2) Realism with urgency – investing in ending hunger by 2040 without further delay

• It would be possible to lift 500 million individuals out of hunger and malnutrition by 2040 by increasing investments by approximately USD 10 billion annually (or US$ 116 billion in total between 2025 and 2040).
• To lift about 700 million people out of hunger and malnutrition by 2040, the additional costs almost double to about USD 21 billion annually (or US$ 223 billion in total).

The study was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) under the research project “Assessing SDG2 implementation, financial needs, and costs of complacency”.

ZEF is an international and interdisciplinary research institute of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn. It is dedicated to and engaged in research, capacity building, policy dialogue and public awareness as well as international networking.