Climate Policy in Agriculture

© Bodil Bartroff, 2025

Climate Policy in Agriculture

Insights from an EU Member State Dialogue

Presentation
Date
Location
Brussels, Belgium
Panel discussion

European agriculture faces the dual challenge of significantly reducing emissions while maintaining economic resilience. These issues shaped a recent event hosted by the Danish EU Presidency 2025 in cooperation with the Directorate-General for Climate Action (DG CLIMA) and the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI).

During a panel discussion, Hugh McDonald, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, emphasised that only early, well-designed, and coherent policymaking will allow the sector to move towards climate neutrality.

Key Messages from his Intervention

  • Ambitious climate action is unavoidable. To limit future costs and unlock opportunities, policymaking must start now.
  • Clear, realistic, and gradual mitigation targets help farmers and agri-food stakeholders engage constructively in the transition.
  • Pricing agricultural emissions creates incentives for climate-efficient practices. A dedicated emissions trading scheme for agriculture should be considered as a medium-term option – designed to protect smaller farms and low-income households.
  • Enhancing capacities offers a double benefit: it reduces costs for farmers and strengthens the sector’s ability to meet ambitious targets.
  • Monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems can already support effective emission reductions today, even as they continue to evolve.

The discussion highlighted that transforming the agricultural sector requires coherent, socially fair, and forward-looking policymaking.

In light of stagnating emissions, the agricultural sector needs ambitious climate policy. Well-designed compliance instruments – especially emissions pricing – can promote effective reductions along the agri-food value chain.

Contact

Organizer
Panel discussion
Date
Location
Brussels, Belgium
Keywords
Klimapolitik Landwirtschaft, EU Landwirtschaft Emissionen, landwirtschaftliche Emissionen reduzieren, agrarischer Klimaschutz, Emissionshandel Landwirtschaft, landwirtschaftliche Klimaziele, Klimamaßnahmen Agrarsektor, MRV Landwirtschaft, EU Agrarpolitik Klima, klimaneutrale Landwirtschaft, Emissionsbepreisung Landwirtschaft, nachhaltige Agrarsysteme, Climate Action Agriculture, europäischer Agrarsektor, EU-Klimapolitik, EU-Landwirtschaftspolitik
Europa
Monitoring Reporting Verification, MRV-Systeme, Emissionsbepreisung, Emissionshandelssystem Landwirtschaft, policy analysis, Klimapolitik-Analyse, Transformationspfade Landwirtschaft, Kapazitätsaufbau Agrarsektor, Zielsetzungsmodelle, sektorale Klimastrategien, politische Instrumente Emissionsminderung, Stakeholder-Engagement Landwirtschaft
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