The selection criteria included practical feasibility on farms and scientific validation of the impact on emission reduction under various production and environmental conditions. For a group of 26 potentially suitable solutions, a tool was developed to enable a comparative cost-benefit analysis of the measures.

In general, climate impacts in agriculture can arise from greenhouse gas emissions, but also from changes in greenhouse gas sinks and stored carbon stocks. These changes can be positive or negative, for example, due to altered land use and management practices. The most important greenhouse gas overall and globally is CO₂_.In agriculture, CH₄ and N₂O are also_of significant_importance. According to the Kyoto Protocol, Austria was obligated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% between 1990 and 2020; the reduction targets for the future are even higher.

Climate models predict a temperature increase of approximately 4°C in Austria over the next 50 years, with an even greater increase in the Alpine regions. International climate protection efforts have the potential to significantly reduce this future warming effect. While Austrian agriculture contributes only a small share to the country's greenhouse gas emissions, other economic sectors employ technical processes that are often easier to adapt than those in agriculture tied to biological cycles. Therefore, it is all the more valuable to build knowledge about the possibilities, limitations, and costs of mitigation measures.

Interim report

An interim report on the project documents the potential solutions and the necessary methodological foundations, focusing on the calculation and accounting of greenhouse gas emissions and their impacts on climate (protection). The aim is to include all relevant climate contributions – not just emissions – wherever possible. This approach thus goes beyond territorial and sectoral greenhouse gas emissions reporting. The focus is on the agricultural enterprise as the central economic entity from which important decisions regarding the future direction of agriculture originate.

The measures encompass the areas of arable and forage crop production, dairy cows, cattle fattening and small ruminants, monogastric animals, manure management, changes in land use, as well as farm management, energy efficiency, and energy production. The approaches largely align with the "Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan for Austria," which includes measures in the areas of fertilizer management, feeding strategies, housing systems, soil cultivation, humus stabilization and erosion control, as well as renewable energy production and energy efficiency. All of the solutions discussed relate to primary agricultural production; other areas such as forestry and product processing must be addressed separately.

Action planning

The following diagram illustrates how a single graphic cannot capture the complexity of sustainable climate action planning. Based on the diagram, one would focus on the greenhouse gas N₂O in agriculture_., factors such as the scope of analysis (e.g., global agriculture vs. Austrian production), climate policy targets (e.g., the 100-year temperature impact), and sector allocation have a significant influence.

 Figure 2: Contribution of an emission in different sectors this year to the global temperature increase in 100 years (from IPCC 2013, p. 720)