IFOAM Organics Europe leads Work Package D “Supporting policy design” of OrganicClimateNET. In this Work Package, we aim to make the results of the project accessible to policymakers, especially those working on EU level, so that future policies support organic climate farming. In this project we define organic climate farming as an agricultural approach that integrates organic farming principles with climate-conscious practices.
The role of IFOAM in the project
Currently, we are collecting EU policies and instruments that are relevant for OrganicClimateNET. An example of such a policy is the Carbon Removal Certification Framework. It includes carbon farming and aims to provide clarity on the quality of carbon removals as well as to establish a harmonised framework across the EU. Another relevant policy is the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and its National Strategic Plans. They have to contribute to the climate targets to comply with the ambitions of the European Green Deal.
When the inventory of relevant EU policies is finished, we will assess these policies to conclude how they affect organic climate farming. We will also assess if and how they address co-benefits like biodiversity and water protection, and their impact on organic farming. The political context will be considered, including the outcome of the EU elections beginning of June and their influence on climate action and environmental ambition.
Next steps
After the policy assessment, we will engage with other Work Packages of the project. Based on the results of the project and the policy assessment we will decide on relevant topics for policy briefs. We want to deliver concrete policy recommendations that help policymakers with future policy design. Moreover, we will engage with EU policymakers and other stakeholders in policy workshops to discuss the policy briefs. As an outcome of the workshops, we will jointly develop an action plan for policies that are needed to support organic climate farming.
