Inclusion and understanding of farmers’ perspectives in policies and policymaking for greenhouse gas removal

Abstract

The European Commission aims to facilitate a just transition towards climate neutrality in 2050 (no net greenhouse gas emissions) and acknowledges agriculture's potential to contribute to greenhouse gas removal (GGR). But the sector is currently struggling with economic profitability and a declining farmers' population. Farmers, moreover, often tend to be critical of sustainability and environmental policies, which negatively influences their willingness to engage with GGR. Based on insights from justice theory we assume that farmers' potential reservations towards GGR can be mitigated by ensuring that their perspectives are included and inform the design and execution of GGR policies. But to what extent do policymakers understand and consider the inclusion of farmers' perspectives on GGR? To explore this question we analyse key EU and Swedish GGR policy documents as well as interviews with policymakers against the procedural justice criteria of voice, transparency, impartiality and consistency. The analysis identifies the following challenges that influence the uptake of farmers' perspectives in GGR measures: (1) the legitimacy of farmers' perspectives are affected by the ways in which policymakers perceive the representativeness of intermediaries; (2) the timing of inclusion of different intermediaries affects meaningful inclusion of farmers' perspectives in GGR policies; and finally (3) intermediaries and other stakeholders have different experience and capacities for navigating the complex and opaque body of policies, policymaking processes and competing interests (together referred to as a policy maze). Based on these results we conclude that meeting these three challenges can help to overcome farmers' scepticism against environmental policy and, as such, strengthen the effectiveness of GGR measures.