For nearly three decades, the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has convened global leaders, policy-makers, and scientists—at considerable cost, including a hefty environmental footprint—to confront one of humanity’s greatest existential threats: climate change. Milestones achieved at prior COPs such as the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement, and the Glasgow Climate Pact provided optimism and guidance, yet rhetoric has often eclipsed action. Pledges and targets proliferate, and new frameworks may recycle old goals, weakening meaningful change. Meanwhile, challenges facing fundamental needs such as food production are mounting. Weather shocks, growing populations, loss of biodiversity, and conflicts combine to form a perfect storm that amplifies food and nutrition insecurity, migration, and instability.