What is it about?
Agriculture plays an important role in climate change, but it is often unclear whether public subsidies really help reduce farm greenhouse gas emissions. In the European Union, agri-environmental schemes pay farmers to adopt environmentally friendly practices, yet many of these schemes were not originally designed to cut emissions directly. This study looks at farm-level data from Slovenia to examine whether joining these schemes leads to lower greenhouse gas emissions. By following the same farms over time and comparing those that joined the schemes with those that did not, the analysis shows that farms entering agri-environmental schemes tended to have higher emissions even before they joined. However, after participation began, emission reductions were small and not statistically clear in the first one to two years. These findings suggest that broad, practice-based environmental schemes may not deliver immediate climate benefits on their own. To achieve stronger emission reductions, policies may need to focus more directly on high-emission farms, link payments to measurable climate outcomes, and improve monitoring of farm-level emissions over time.
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Why is it important?
This study is one of the first to use detailed farm-level data to track how greenhouse gas emissions change before and after farms join agri-environmental schemes. Instead of relying on simple comparisons, it follows the same farms over time, allowing a clearer assessment of whether these policies actually cause emission reductions. This approach helps avoid misleading conclusions that can arise when farms with very different starting conditions are compared. The timing of the study is especially important. As the European Union strengthens climate goals under the Green Deal and redesigns agricultural policies for the post-2027 period, there is growing pressure to show that public spending leads to real, measurable climate benefits. By showing that widely used environmental schemes may not deliver quick emission reductions, this research highlights where policy design, targeting, and monitoring need improvement. The findings can help policymakers, researchers, and practitioners design more effective climate-focused agricultural measures at a moment when better evidence is urgently needed.
Perspectives
Working on this study reinforced for me how difficult it is to translate well-intended environmental policies into measurable climate outcomes. Agri-environmental schemes are often discussed as key climate tools, yet when we looked carefully at farm-level data, the climate effects were far less visible than many would expect. This does not mean these schemes fail, but it does mean we need to be more honest about what they can and cannot deliver in the short run. What we found especially important is that the results challenge a common assumption: that expanding existing environmental programmes automatically leads to emission reductions. In reality, climate mitigation requires much more precise targeting, better data, and clearer links between public payments and outcomes. I hope this work encourages more open discussion among researchers and policymakers about evidence, trade-offs, and the need for rigorous evaluation, particularly as agricultural policy is redesigned to meet increasingly ambitious climate goals.
Professor Imre Fertő
Eotvos Lorand Tudomanyegyetem
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Do agri-environmental schemes reduce farm greenhouse gas emissions? Evidence from Slovenia, The Science of The Total Environment, February 2026, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2026.181387.
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