Selected indicators and data & modelling requirements

Summary

While contributing around 1.3% of the EU’s GDP (EC, 2021), agriculture is responsible for about 10% of the EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions (EC, 2023b), a significant portion of which comes from fossil fuel use for machinery, transport, and fertilizers (EC, 2023a). This reliance not only conflicts with the EU’s goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050, but also exposes the sector to significant economic risks seeing the high volatility of fossil fuel and fertilizer prices in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Shifting to energy-efficient, low-carbon practices is not only climate effective, but also economically viable.
Drawing on the idea of the interconnectedness of the agriculture and energy systems at the agri-energy nexus, the AgEnRes project addresses the urgent challenge of reducing fossil fuel dependence and enhancing energy resilience in European agriculture. Following earlier deliverables analysing the policy environment (D1.1) and technological innovation in different regions of Europe (D.1.2), this report provides the groundwork for a shared terminological and conceptual basis for developing a set of comprehensive indicators for the further analytical work in AgEnRes on reduced fossil-energy use, renewable energy adoption, and efficiency improvements in farming systems. Different data requirements exist for assessing i) energy dependence, ii) energy saving technologies as well as iii) the adoption potential of innovation. Correspondingly, this review report elaborates on approaches at the agri-energy nexus relevant for both science and policy for monitoring and assessing policy measures that address energy use, energy efficiency or fluctuation of energy-intensive inputs in agriculture, by:
1.
Reviewing CAP result indicators for relevance to energy efficiency and emissions reduction in agriculture and their compatibility with AgEnRes research objectives and data requirements.
2.
Identifying pertaining gaps in research and practice as to where additional indicators are needed to better assess the transition to a low-carbon and energy-resilient approach to agriculture.
3.
Defining key principles and requirements for policy evaluation indicators across environmental, social, economic, and governance dimensions at the agri-energy nexus.