Take aways from the Nutrition for Growth Summit Paris 2025

The world is falling short on all seven global nutrition targets for 2030, with most countries off track rather than on track to meet them (SOFI, 2024). In that respect, the discussions and commitments made at the Nutrition for Growth Summit in Paris were most welcome and necessary, as these may help to ignite renewed energy for accelerated action by all stakeholders towards the global nutrition targets. The Summit acknowledged that action is urgently needed to address malnutrition in all its forms. It gathered world leaders together around this agenda, in a period with sharp reductions in donor funding for nutrition (Osendarp et al. 2025).

What commitments were made at the summit?

The Final Statement of the Nutrition for Growth Summit summarises the political commitments made (link EN, link FR) and expresses the need for solidarity and coordinated action. The Nutrition for Growth Summit has mobilised over US$27 billion to reach nutrition-related Sustainable Development Goals (Press release France).

A full overview of financial commitments is not yet available. An extensive N4G Summit Statement Annex compiled pre-Summit provides a preliminary overview, with details on 403 commitments registered by 127 commitment makers across 66 countries, covering pledges up to around US$25.7 billion. An article by Devex published just after the Summit provides a clear post-Summit overview of pledges by governments, investors and foundations. While the host of the conference and many others welcomed the total amount pledged, many stakeholders are eager to understand which commitments are new and which are already existing. The formal registration and monitoring will take place through the Nutrition Accountability Framework.

Key takeaways and domains for additional action

The Netherlands Food Partnership participated in a range of side-events at Nutrition for Growth and identified many opportunities for follow up:

• Accountability on the commitments was a common thread across the conversation. There seemed to be a clear consensus that commitments will only be meaningful if all stakeholders are accountable and transparent. The role of governments to deliver on their N4G commitments is a central one, and all government delegates confirmed their ambition to be accountable. While the responsibility of all other stakeholders was acknowledged too.

• Small and medium sized enterprises in LMICs, which produce, process and sell healthy food and food products have a key role to play to enable consumers' access to these foods. For this, SMEs need an enabling environment including effective development strategies for sectors producing crops with a high nutritious value.

• Investments from financial institutions and investment funds have to be tailored to the needs of these SME enterprises, via appropriate intermediary mechanisms that include nutrition related incentives when relevant.

• Consumer awareness strengthening is important to foster healthy food patterns and caring behaviour, and to develop a basis for a greater demand for healthy food and food products. While taking into consideration trustworthy information and appropriate marketing standards.

• The importance of “nutrition integration” was not only stressed in many keynote speeches, but the ambition was also translated into a joint initiative, the Global Compact on Nutrition Integration. The term describes the inclusion of nutrition objectives and related activities into relevant sector policies, programmes and investments so that they deliver nutrition benefits alongside other objectives.

• Research supporting evidence-based nutrition policy making is key for effective and efficient interventions*. This research needs to be embedded in systems thinking and help find complex 360 degree solutions**. Budget cuts in this domain should be prevented. International research collaboration is of key importance as it can contribute to strengthening LMIC based research institutes and their role in nutrition research.

• Nutrition entails a business case. Food and beverage companies that want to contribute to sustainable development in all its dimensions, have a key role to play in and an interest to contribute to healthy diets and improved nutrition. A recent World Bank report indicates that 1 US$ invested in nutrition generates 23 US$ in return. Institutional investors on their turn can and need to be allies for improved nutrition, if they raise their standards and require the food and beverage industries to shift towards a greater percentage of healthy products in their overall sales. The Dutch pension fund Achmea is a champion in this domain.

• “Civil Society contributions are a big part of the roadmap to bring N4G forward,” said Afshan Khan, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Coordinator of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement. Community based organisations work at the grassroots level, developing solutions that work for children, for parents (f/m), for farmers and entrepreneurs, while they also have a role to play in budget monitoring and expenditure tracking***.

• Collaboration across sectors, across stakeholders is a key requirement for success of any policy or activity. Processes and mechanisms to organise such collaboration need to be organised and put in place.

• Smart accountability processes and mechanisms, using the latest tools, data and indicators. And developing cooperation between stakeholders in the accounting process, combined with open dialogue and learning. In a seminar hosted by the Netherlands Embassy in Paris, all delegates welcomed the recent adoption of the new SDG indicator on Minimum Dietary Diversity by the UN Statistical Commission.

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* The results of the Scientific Conference held during N4G are still to be awaited. The host of the Scientific Conference was the French research agency CIRAD, which is among the key actors in the Nutrition Research Facility (see also CIRAD website).
** The CGIAR Montpelier process is among the leading research initiatives to foster systems thinking in agriculture and nutrition research. See this link.
*** The Right 2 Grow partnership (website) presented their work in several African countries at the Village des Solutions and the CSO pavilion.
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*Scroll down for some case examples from the Solutions Village and from side events