The Economic Advantage -Assessing the value of climate-change actions in agriculture

This report is intended to provide support in building economic evidence for the inclusion of actions on agriculture in climate change plans and programs, particularly at the national level under the umbrella of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to the December 2015 Paris Agreement. Agriculture is a sector especially sensitive to climate change. It also accounts for significant emissions and is, therefore, a priority for both adaptation and mitigation plans and actions at global, national and local levels.

Climate change plans for the agricultural sector need to be based on solid economic assessment that includes policy mainstreaming, iterative planning, a balance of project-level and farm-level assessments of costs and benefits, and appraisal of economic incentives and the enabling environment for farmers and other private-sector actors. Supplementing cost-benefit analyses with better understanding of drivers of behavioral change, including at different scales and time frames within an overall theory of change, will provide better guidance for investment. NDCs are generally well aligned with national development plans so that proposed actions for both adaptation and mitigation contribute to improved development outcomes at the national level, but they do not yet collectively meet the global ambitions of the Paris Agreement. The more ambitious NDCs provide the political capital to promote transformative actions that bring together multiple, longer-term agendas for social, economic and environmental benefit. This report contributes arguments and information on economic assessment for agriculture under climate change.