How can EU agriculture contribute to climate neutrality?

On 28 October IFOAM Organics Europe hosted ClieNFarms’ second public policy workshop How can the EU agricultural sector contribute to climate neutrality? 

in the context of the recent farmers’ protests, the EU elections and the Strategic Dialogue report the workshop brought together experts from around the world, farmers, policy makers, umbrella organisations and an audience of 40 to contextualise the importance of having a common climate goal that EU agriculture contributes to, with measures taken at the farm level and beyond.  

After a welcoming word by Alba Saez,  Research and Innovation Consultant at IFOAM Organics Europe, two keynote speeches kick-off discussions. Jacques-Eric Bergez, senior researcher at National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRAE) and ClieNFarms project coordinator, introduced the workshop and ClieNFarms. Julia Bognar, Head of Programme for the Land Use & Climate team at the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) spoke about climate mitigation efforts in EU agriculture towards 2030 and the current pathway.  

Climate neutrality is still on the political agenda 

Jacques-Eric quoted European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen in the Strategic Dialogue on the future of EU agriculture to stress that recommendations show support for and encourage promotion of sustainable farming practices. He was also the first one to say that agricultural emissions have been stagnant since 2005 and more efforts are needed to drive them down, an admonition that was echoed by all the speakers throughout the workshop.  

The ClieNFarms project aims at tackling this issue by demonstrating that innovative systemic solutions have the potential to generate positive impacts by 2030 and preparing roadmaps to climate neutrality to be adopted by farms and farming systems. This is done through the development of an Innovative System Solution Space (I3S) Network based on a demonstration and upscaling approach. 

You can find Jacques Eric’ presentation here

2030 emission trends and targets 

Julia pointed out the wide variability of emission trends between Member States (MS), with emissions decreasing in 13, but increasing in 14. Some countries such as Denmark, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg or Austria need to put special attention to reducing their agricultural emissions because agriculture makes up a large share of their total emissions. 

Julia also pointed out that the predicted trajectory with additional measures of the Effort Sharing sectors’ emissions and the Land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF), both of which cover some agricultural emissions, will fall short of meeting the 2030 target. Very few MS have a concrete pathway to reach the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) or the LULUCF targets. She expressed concern for countries such as Czechia, Estonia, Finland and France where the declining trend of net removals until 2025 may impact the achievement of the 2030 targets but brought up some positive progress in other MS such as Lithuania, Germany, the Netherlands or Spain with measures to rewet/restore peatlands or reduce livestock emission. 

More efforts needed across the value chain 

Julia emphasised the need for a clear roadmap for emission reductions at a sectoral level, so not just farmers, but all actors across the value chain, based on the adoption of agroecological practices. This needs to be accompanied by consumer behavior changes, food waste reduction measures along the value chain, large-scale financing for farmers and a strategy to internalize the true cost of food. 

You can find Julia’s presentation here

EU agriculture’s contribution to climate neutrality – ClieNFarm’s first policy brief 

Alba Saez presented the first policy brief developed by ClieNFarms, detailing the differences between the terms carbon neutrality, Greenhouse gas GHG neutrality and climate neutrality, emphasising that the climate neutrality should include the former two alongside terrestrial ecosystems and planetary boundaries. She claimed that taking a reductive approach that focuses only on one or few of these elements risks worsening the climate crisis by means of trade-offs and carbon leakage, and that on-farm solutions should be based on the presented holistic approach.  

ClieNFarms’ recommendations: 

• EU Member States need to improve their climate monitoring, reporting and verification systems 

• Tackle biodiversity and climate together to improve system resilience; and 

• A Carbon Removal Certification Framework is needed to recognise the efforts of first movers, such as organic farmers. 

Policy debate 

The last part of the workshop was a policy debate with Peter Fröhlich, CEO and founder of AgriCircle, deputy leader of ClieNFarms’ Work Package 2; Valeria Forlin, Unit Land Economy and Carbon Removals, DG Clima; Mark Howden, International Advisory Board of ClieNFarms, Director of the Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions at The Australian National University; Nicola Di Virgilio, Unit Env Sustainability, DG Agri; and Alba Saez, R&I Coordinator Consultant at IFOAM Organics Europe. 

The speakers discussed the term ‘holistic approach’ and the challenges associated with making policies that have multiple purposes. For example, Valeria mentioned that the Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF) has a mandatory requirement for carbon farming practises to benefit biodiversity but a biodiversity indicator is lacking.  

Alba added the EU organic movement’s position that there is an unfair advantage in rewarding single climate measures. This practices creates more rewards for farmers who deliver fewer environmental benefits compared to those farmers who use a whole-farm approach that creates more benefits to the environment. Mark explained that research can contribute to seeing agrifood systems in a more holistic way by collaborating with farmers in projects like ClieNFarms, which are co-designed to address farmers’ actual questions. He emphasized the importance of farmers understanding trade-offs and co-benefits from a systems perspective to help them make informed decisions.  

If you are interested in the topics of this policy workshop and you would like to find out more about it, check out the full recording on ClieNFarms YouTube channel. 

About ClieNFarms 

The Horizon 2020 project ClieNFarms tests solutions for climate-neutral farms. Between 2022 and 2025 the project will set up 20 cases studies where systemic solutions will be tested and evaluated using up-to date modelling approaches and multicriteria assessment tools. IFOAM Organics Europe is a project partner and ensures the project’s results feed into EU policies. 

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