In its 2026 Global Outlook, the Rome-based WFP said 318 million people were expected to face crisis levels of hunger or worse next year, more than double the number in 2019

International News via Reuters:

The world is facing a deepening hunger crisis with resources falling far short of needs, the United Nations World Food Programme warned on Tuesday, citing sharp declines in humanitarian funding.

In its 2026 Global Outlook, the Rome-based WFP said 318 million people were expected to face crisis levels of hunger or worse next year, more than double the number in 2019. 

But shrinking humanitarian funding means the WFP only plans to assist about 110 million of the most vulnerable people in 2026, at a cost of $13 billion, the agency said. Current forecasts suggest it may receive only about half that amount.

“The world is grappling with simultaneous famines, in Gaza and parts of Sudan. This is completely unacceptable in the 21st century,” WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain said in a statement.

“Hunger is becoming more entrenched. We know early, effective solutions save lives, but we desperately need more support.”

FOREIGN AID CUTS

The WFP’s biggest donor, the United States, has slashed its foreign aid under President Donald Trump, and other major nations have also made or announced cuts in assistance.

The WFP said last month that it expected to receive 40% less funding year-on-year for 2025, resulting in a projected budget of $6.4 billion, down from $10 billion in 2024.

Conflict, extreme weather and economic instability are expected to drive severe food insecurity, WFP said. In 2025, its famine prevention efforts pulled communities back from the brink of starvation, but the overall crisis shows no sign of easing.

In Afghanistan, where food programmes have been scaled back substantially this year, around nine out of 10 people including women and children arriving on foot at nutrition centres are being turned away, WFP Director Jean-Martin Bauer told a Geneva press briefing when asked about the impact of less funding.

He said that leaving so many without access to support might contribute to conflict or migration.

“There could be impacts at the regional level for countries that have nothing to do with this problem, but who are exposed to the consequences of out-of-control hunger in a country nearby.”

The agency said it would deliver emergency food and nutrition aid, help communities build resilience to food shocks, and provide technical support to strengthen national systems, while leveraging technology to improve efficiency. WFP urged governments and donors to invest in proven solutions to curb hunger and move closer to the goal of zero hunger.

Reporting by Crispian Balmer in Rome and Emma Farge in Geneva;Editing by Alison Williams

Countries are now digging into some of the toughest issues – many of which have been left off the formal agenda to ensure the talks keep moving even if one issue gets hung up

International News via Reuters:

Government ministers from around the world were preparing for a final few fraught days of talks at the U.N. climate summit as they bid to secure a deal that demonstrates global resolve amid increasing assertiveness from developing nations.

The job will not be easy. Countries are now digging into some of the toughest issues – many of which have been left off the formal agenda to ensure the talks keep moving even if one issue gets hung up.

“The time for performative diplomacy has now passed. Now is the time to roll up our sleeves, come together and get the job done,” U.N. climate chief Simon Stiell told delegations in a speech opening the second week of the conference.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is expected to arrive on Wednesday to help rally consensus among parties at the summit in the Amazon city of Belem ahead of Friday’s final scheduled session.

DEVELOPING NATIONS FLEX MORE MUSCLE

Asked if there was any one issue dominating the talks, COP30 President Andre Correa do Lago replied: “Everything, everything. It’s very complicated.”

New dynamics in climate diplomacy have seen China, India and other developing nations flex more muscle this year, while the European Union is hobbled by weakening support back home and the once-dominant United States has skipped out altogether.

Danish climate minister Lars Aagaard said the European Union was showing leadership but that it was still early in the negotiations.

“Today is Monday, so I think it’s a bit early to say who is active and who is leading in these negotiations. We can evaluate that when we come to the end,” he said.

Brazil’s top goal for COP30 is to deliver an agreement that reaffirms the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aimed to limit global warming, while acknowledging its shortcomings by laying out clear plans for future climate action.

MIND THE GAPS

Over the last week negotiators had a chance to air their differences on three key issues: climate finance, unilateral trade measures, and planned emissions cuts that do not go nearly far enough.

The Paris treaty’s central goal, to prevent warming beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, will be missed.

Current emissions trends have the world warming by at least 2.3 C, which Norway’s climate minister said parties agreed would need to be addressed.

“It is a must-have to be able to talk about how we close the gap going forward,” the minister, Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, told Reuters.

A bloc of developing countries is also seeking a payment schedule to ensure wealthy countries follow through on promises made at last year’s COP29 to annually deliver $300 billion in climate finance by 2035. The United States – absent from COP30 – has reneged on past commitments.

PROGRESS IN SOME, BUT NOT ALL, AREAS

Denmark, which produces the majority of its electricity from wind, announced a new binding target to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 82% by 2035, compared with 1990 levels.

“We think this is the highest, most ambitious number of any country in the developed world,” Aagaard said.

Denmark’s target is substantially more ambitious than the EU’s overall commitment to a 66.25%-72.5% emissions cut by 2035.

South Korea, which operates the world’s seventh-largest fleet of coal-fired power stations, announced it would stop building new coal plants and phase out nearly two-thirds of existing ones by 2040. The rest would also be phased out, though the timeline was not specified.

However, the transition away from fossil fuels in developing countries remains a vexed issue.

Indonesia’s plan to retire 6.7 gigawatts of coal-fired power plant capacity by 2030 is at risk of failure due to stalled disbursal of funding from rich countries.

“If there is no one really willing to jump in to finance the coal phase-out, then we will have to think about whether phase-out is actually the best option,” Paul Butarbutar, head of the Indonesia Secretariat of the Just Energy Transition Partnership program, told Reuters.

Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu, Valerie Volcovici, Katy Daigle, Simon Jessop, William James, Kate Abnett and Sudarshan Varadhan; Additional reporting by Eduardo Baptista in Beijing; Editing by Richard Valdmanis, Conor Humphries and Nia Williams