Abstract: The European Green Deal is a political milestone aiming to promote a carbon-neutral economy in the European Union. Decarbonizing the complex food sector requires the unified interaction among effective climate policies, economic instruments, and initiatives involving multiple stakeholders. Despite increasing efforts to highlight the importance of innovations and finance to achieve sustainable food supply chains (FSC), comprehensive information about related opportunities and barriers to mitigating emissions in the food sector is still under-explored. To cover this gap, this paper applies an existing industrial policy framework under the lens of the EU FSC to identify potential strategies that should help achieve the needed financial means and innovation actions, as well as to gauge political alignment across FSC stages. Methodologically, the pillars proposed in the framework are linked to multi-stakeholders initiatives engaged in achieving net-zero emissions. The paper highlights three main implications of the identified interlinkages. First, political directionality related to the food sector should be more comprehensively tailored to account for the specificities of all stages of the FSC. Second, research and development projects shall likewise cover all stages, instead of emphasizing only food production and agricultural systems. Finally, multiple stakeholders are crucial as promoters of technology and innovation towards a green economy. Nevertheless, initiatives should be integrated into political discussions in order to promote civil awareness, and sustainable food and services demand, aligned to political guidelines.
Abstract: Organic agri-food systems are often promoted as a more sustainable alternative to conventional systems, yet their effectiveness in reducing greenhouse gas emissions remains uncertain. This study assesses whether the expansion of organic farming in Brazil contributes to emission reductions using municipality-level panel data for 5,527 municipalities from 2002 to 2019. Applying the Generalized Synthetic Control method, the analysis shows that municipalities expanding organic farming experienced an average reduction of 0.94 ktCO$_2$e in direct farming emissions, but an increase of 22.67 ktCO$_2$e in total emissions once land-use change is considered. Emissions trajectories are heterogeneous across regions, with reductions in direct emissions in the Northeast and South, and increases in total emissions in the Southeast and South. These results provide the first large-scale evidence of the emissions trade-offs associated with organic farming in a major agricultural producer. They highlight that while organic farming can deliver environmental advantages, it may not necessarily result in net climate benefits, and it should be complemented by land-use governance policies.