Options to overcome the barriers to pricing European agricultural emissions

English. Although agriculture could contribute substantially to European emission reductions, its mitigation potential lies untapped and dormant. Market-based instruments could be pivotal in incentivizing cost-effective abatement. However, sector specificities in transaction costs, leakage risks and distributional impacts impede its implementation. The significance of such barriers critically hinges on the dimensions of policy design. This article synthesizes the work on emissions pricing in agriculture together with the literature on the design of market-based instruments. To structure the discussion, an options space is suggested to map policy options, focusing on three key dimensions of policy design. More specifically, it examines the role of policy coverage, instruments and transfers to farmers in overcoming the barriers. First, the results show that a significant proportion of agricultural emissions and mitigation potential could be covered by a policy targeting large farms and few emission sources, thereby reducing transaction costs. Second, whether an instrument is voluntary or mandatory influences distributional outcomes and leakage. Voluntary instruments can mitigate distributional concerns and leakage risks but can lead to subsidy lock-in and carbon price distortion. Third, the impact on transfers resulting from the interaction of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) with emissions pricing will play a key role in shaping political feasibility and has so far been underappreciated.

French. Bien que l'agriculture puisse contribuer substantiellement aux réductions d'émissions européennes, son potentiel d'atténuation reste largement inexploité. Les instruments économiques pourraient jouer un rôle essentiel dans l'atteinte d'objectifs d'atténuation à moindre coût. Cependant, les spécificités de ce secteur en terme de coûts de transaction, de risques de fuite et d'impacts redistributifs entravent leur mise en œuvre. L'importance de ces barrières dépend étroitement de la conception des politiques publiques. Cet article synthétise le travail sur la tarification des émissions dans l'agriculture. Un ensemble d'options est proposé et analysé selon trois dimensions clés de la conception des instruments de politiques publiques : leur couverture, leur type et les transferts aux agriculteurs.