Towards more effective, fair and coherent policies for climate change mitigation and adaptation in agriculture and forestry

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• decision-makers and stakeholders in the EU and in Associated Countries have access to comprehensive information and analyses on policy tools applied in the EU, in Associated Countries or in other jurisdictions whose experience can enrich the analysis, and which are targeting or otherwise affecting climate-change mitigation and adaptation outcomes in agriculture and in forestry;
• decision-makers and stakeholders in the EU and in Associated Countries have access to evidence on the trade-offs and synergies between the application of policy tools regarding climate change mitigation and adaptation and their impact on economic, social and environmental outcomes, including those that do not harm or benefit biodiversity;
• mutual learning takes place within and across science, policy and society on the characteristics and outcomes of different climate policy strategies affecting agriculture and forestry, the conditions of their effectiveness, and about synergies and trade-offs with other relevant sectoral and horizontal policies.

Scope:

Agriculture and forestry are among the sectors most directly impacted by climate change, while also playing important roles in its mitigation, through greenhouse gas emissions, their reduction and carbon removals from the atmosphere. These roles are addressed in horizontal EU climate policies such as the Regulations on Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) ^[1] and on Effort-sharing ^[2] or the forthcoming Climate Adaptation Plan, as well as in sectoral policies, most notably the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) with a host of relevant rules and voluntary measures. The climate performance in agriculture and forestry is indirectly also affected by many other policies and measures, be they sectoral (e.g., on market organisation or on income support) or horizontal (e.g., on competitiveness). Depending on their design and application, climate policies in turn also have impacts beyond their immediate objectives, e.g. on competitiveness, income distribution, and biodiversity and nature protection. Apart from policies applicable in the EU and its Member States and in Associated Countries, the outcomes in each of these jurisdictions are also impacted by rules and standards applied in other parts of the world, through international markets and other transboundary effects.

While efforts are made in some contexts to expand the scope of regular policy evaluations, so that they also include “external factors” and unintended consequences, this poses significant challenges methodologically and in terms of data and thus often remains an afterthought in analyses focused on individual policies or sectors. There is a need for more aggregate consideration of the full spectrum of levers impacting on climate outcomes, in a comparative and systemic perspective, with a view to improving the overall effectiveness, fairness and coherence of public policies.

Proposals should:

• making use inter alia of advanced technological potentials for accelerated evidence synthesis, take stock of existing analyses and evidence on the performance of sectoral and horizontal instruments affecting climate-change mitigation and adaptation in the agricultural and forestry sectors, also in terms of the distribution of costs and benefits within and across sectors and societies;
• design and carry out research to fill gaps in the understanding of the above questions, covering a broad range of policy instruments across relevant outcomes and include compound effects on other policy objectives as well as spill-overs from climate-relevant policies with a different (primary) objective, including biodiversity and nature protection;
• for the agricultural and forestry sectors address adaptation as well as mitigation-related policies and outcomes and assess how (and with how much success) their interconnections have been reflected in relevant policies and institutions, identifying relevant enabling conditions;
• develop frameworks for assessing overall policy outcomes across potentially conflicting objectives and identify specific leverage points for realistically improving aggregate outcomes, taking into account any existing review processes or mechanisms.

This topic should involve the effective contribution of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines. Proposals are encouraged to consider, where relevant, the data, expertise and services offered by European research infrastructures in the environmental, biological and food domains.

[1] EUR-Lex - 02018R0841-20230511 - EN - EUR-Lex

[2] Regulation - 2023/857 - EN - EUR-Lex