The agricultural sector can contribute to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by reducing emissions associated with food production and by providing bioenergy. As of yet, there is a lack of incentives to reduce emissions in agriculture. Efficient policies for mitigation should be implemented globally, but since global cooperation in climate policies seem distant yet, regional or unilateral initiatives become interesting.

This project analyses climate policies for agriculture for the European Union. Such policies might cause production and emissions to move to other countries, hence climate policies should be evaluated based on their impact on global emissions.

We analyse impacts of climate taxes for agriculture on GHG emissions and the provision of bioenergy. We extend a bio-economic model to enable simulations of global emissions of GHG from changes in production. The extended model can be used for further policy analysis to aid political decision processes.

The project is undertaken by AgriFood Economics Centre in collaboration with EuroCARE GmbH in Bonn and the IES Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Ispra.