Shifting to clean energy at the farm level

Depending on national and local contexts and priorities, policymakers could implement the following measures to support farms shifting to clean energy:

• Promote the adoption and scaling of renewable energy technologies at the farm level depending on the energy source, as follows:  
  • Solar energy:
    • solar photovoltaic panels and generators for: 
      • pumping systems for irrigation and watering livestock 
      • greenhouse or growth rooms management – i.e. ventilation, lighting, and heating
      • precision agriculture – e.g. sensor networks
      • refrigeration or cooling systems for inputs and products
    • solar drying and roasting systems
    • tractors and other machinery propelled by solar energy from solar cells or panels
    • solar fertilization based on solar power, nitrogen and water from the air 
    • agrivoltaics, which combine land interventions (agricultural and vegetation land management) with solar energy production (ground mounted solar)
  • Wind energy (wind turbines):
    • electricity generation for batteries of farm machinery
    • water pumping from deep soil for large-scale irrigation and watering livestock
    • desalination systems
  • Biomass – Biowaste:
    • combustion of sustainable biomass (residues from crop production and livestock) for running drying or heating systems, as well as other productive activities
    • use of biogas for agricultural engines and machinery 
    • treatment of livestock waste or residues from crop production through collective biogas plant investments, especially in areas with small or medium-size farms  
    • biowaste recycling and transformation into fertilizers to reduce the dependence on commercial fertilizers as they require high energy to be produced 
  • Hydroelectric:
    • install small hydro turbines to produce electricity
  • Geothermal:
    • heat extraction from geothermal wells to be used for heating or drying systems 
    • pipelines filled with hot water from geothermal reservoirs to control temperatures in greenhouses and open fields
• Spatial planning – specifically, using Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) – is key for identifying appropriate sites for the implementation of clean energy infrastructure. This can be particularly appropriate for farm contexts, to help identify areas of high biodiversity sensitivity, to prioritize degraded or contaminated cropland, or assess how agro-pastoral activities such as grazing and agroforestry may be integrated into clean energy infrastructure.
• Develop national and local policies to accelerate adoption of renewable energy:
  • set up national and regional renewable energy strategies through inclusive multistakeholder processes including for raising finance for the agriculture and food sector
  • develop strategies to create investment opportunities to make renewable energy available and affordable for farmers, with particular attention to support low income and marginalized communities 
  • examine energy and agricultural policies to find synergies for developing renewable energy projects in farms and reduce policy implementation costs 
• Provide incentives to scale production and adoption of renewable energy technologies:
  • reduce regulatory barriers enabling the use of renewable energy technologies on farms 
  • allow energy surplus produced to be delivered to power or gas grids in exchange for favourable tariffs 
  • provide long-term public financing or grants to enable farmers to purchase and pay for the maintenance of renewable energy technologies. 
• Implement technical assistance and awareness programs:
  • community engagement and stakeholder consultation are key to ensuring that biodiversity impacts are considered in the development of clean energy projects. Technical assistance should be provided to farmers to reduce the economic cost and knowledge barriers of integrating renewable energy technologies on farms  
  • create inclusive training programs through local institutions for farmers to increase management capacity to maintain renewable energy technologies (e.g. to handle drip irrigation systems), adopt skills and access markets for new products and higher yields for existing products, among other skills
  • promote adoption of energy efficient devices through media campaigns that raise awareness of energy and environmental benefits. 

Enabling governance measures can be key to the shift to clean energy at the farm level and can include:

• Assessing current energy use and capabilities in rural areas, as well as the potential of renewable energies and the optimal type of renewable energy technologies in those locations.
• Incorporating behavioural insights into policies and programs. This would serve as the evidence base for the design of concrete policy actions. 
• Developing coordination and information platforms for public institutions, private actors, non-governmental organizations, and financing institutions to raise awareness of the national or regional strategies and raise funding or other resources supporting renewable energy actions.  
• Encouraging dedicated innovation funds and partnerships between local technology suppliers, research institutes and end users to develop or repurpose existing technologies and pilot them to test operational viability. These partnerships should also offer skilling or re-skilling programs to facilitate and incentivize the shift for farm owners and workers.
• Encouraging established supply chains to deliver renewable energy solutions as well as long-term operational and maintenance services.

Some key tools to support the successful transition to clean energy at the farm level can include:

Tools

Shifting to clean energy at the farm level can also help advance the targets of the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF), as well as those of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Climate change mitigation benefits

Shifting to clean and efficient energy production and use at the farm level has the potential to reduce GHG emissions in agricultural and food systems. The magnitude of GHG emission reductions will depend on the measures implemented and their scale. For example, solar-powered water pumping systems have 95 to 98 percent lower life-cycle emissions than equivalent pumps powered by electricity from the grid or diesel.

Climate change adaptation benefits

Shifting to clean energy at the farm level can directly contribute to the following targets under the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience:

• Targets 9a and d (Water & Sanitation, and Ecosystems): Clean energy at the farm level can help combat climate-induced water scarcity, promote access to safe potable water, and increase the climate resilience of ecosystems. This is through improved soil, air and water quality due to reduced use of fossil fuels, locally and through all life cycle stages.
• Target 9b (Food & Agriculture): Clean energy at the farm level can support food security and resilience to climate shocks by providing reliable power for irrigation, cold storage, processing and other activities. In the long term, reducing GHG emissions can boost the resilience of agri-food systems by reducing climate change and variability and increasing the provisioning of ecosystem services, helping combat crop failures, drought, and other impacts.
• Target 9c (Health): Clean energy systems at the farm level may also support needs at the household and community level, such as enabling clean cooking solutions, reducing indoor air pollution, and powering rural health facilities, thus leading to better health outcomes and resilience in farming communities. Healthier and more resilient ecosystems and climate due to reduction in fossil fuel use can reduce disease burdens in the short and long term.
• Target 9e (Infrastructure): Clean energy solutions can improve and modernize rural infrastructure, including reliable electricity for irrigation, storage, and processing, enhancing the resilience of farming operations to climate impacts.
• Target 9f (Livelihoods): Renewable energy increases agricultural productivity, enables value addition, reduces post-harvest losses, and lowers energy costs and price volatility, helping raise incomes and create more resilient livelihoods for farmers and rural populations.

Biodiversity benefits

Action under this policy option can help to deliver on multiple KM-GBF targets, in particular:

• Target 1 (Plan and Manage all Areas To Reduce Biodiversity Loss): Shifting to clean energy sources offers huge opportunities to reduce pressures on biodiversity by embedding environmental considerations into core operating systems at the farm level. Strategic Environmental Assessments are a key policy tool for supporting the energy transition and can help to ensure that all spatial planning and management processes factor in biodiversity impacts.
• Target 8 (Minimize the Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity and Build Resilience): Lower fossil fuel use improves environmental quality, boosting ecosystem and habitat resilience to climate impacts.
• Target 10 (Enhance Biodiversity and Sustainability in Agriculture, Aquaculture, Fisheries, and Forestry): While clean energy can directly enhance the sustainability of agriculture and aquaculture, technologies like agrivoltaics can also be designed to enhance biodiversity protection. Embedding environmental considerations into agricultural planning may also encourage, for example, the adoption of more sustainable production practices or the replacement of chemical inputs with organic alternatives, which can support the protection and enhancement of biodiversity.

Other sustainable development benefits 

Shifting to clean energy at the farm level can support the delivery of multiple SDGs by:

• SDG 2 (Zero Hunger): increasing agricultural productivity and improving food security and nutrition.
• SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being): replacing traditional cooking and lighting sources and reducing exposure to indoor air pollution, providing stable power for rural healthcare facilities, reducing the health impacts of fossil fuel pollution and climate change.
• SDG 5 (Gender Equality): empowering women by providing new opportunities for income generation and decision-making.
• SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation): reducing water usage and improving water quality.
• SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy): reducing energy costs and price volatility.
• SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth): increasing agricultural productivity and farmers’ income.
• SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production): reducing GHG emissions and improving energy efficiency in the production of food and other agricultural products.
• SDG 13 (Climate Action): reducing GHG emissions.

The transition to clean energy at the farm level relies heavily on the quality and execution of targeted interventions. Yet, these initiatives frequently encounter both technical and non-technical hurdles, as well as possible trade-offs and unintended consequences that can compromise their effectiveness, such as:

• Lack of natural sources (e.g. sunlight or wind) required for renewable technologies
• High initial capital investment costs in clean technologies – this is a major challenge for small-sized and low-income farmers, since clean energy costs are high compared to other technologies.
• Site-specific impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity due to the implementation of renewable energy technologies.
• Lack of knowledge about the renewable energy alternatives available to farmers and the costs and benefits associated with their implementation, which allow farmers to make informed investment decisions.
• When biodiversity considerations are not fully integrated into project development and implementation, some clean energy technologies may present risks to biodiversity and ecosystems, including soil disturbance, habitat fragmentation, sound and light pollution, and risk of death or injury for birds and animals that come into contact with the energy infrastructure. A broad range of good practice guides (see an example here) exist to mitigate the potential risks presented by different renewable technologies.

Incorporating the following strategies within a unified and well-structured framework can support smoother implementation and reduce the risk of unintended trade-offs:

• Consider cross-sectoral impacts of energy transition technologies, including renewables, on society and the economy to accelerate their adoption. Beyond traditional economic and environmental metrics, the effects of technology acquisition on water and land use, and the potential for competition for resources with agriculture and other end uses, should be considered when defining transition trajectories at the national and regional levels. 
• Implement hybrid systems relying on multiple sources (e.g. solar panels and wind turbines) to ensure a more reliable energy supply and minimize the risk of shortages. 
• Use a combination of end-user financing (e.g. grants, long-term credit, and tax exemptions) to make renewable energies more affordable. Depending on local contexts, these can be integrated into existing rural financing networks and community organizations (e.g. co-operatives), with particular focus on supporting low income and marginalized communities.
• Evaluate the suitability of options given the farm location, environmental conditions, and social factors. 
• Adopt public policies with a value-chain approach that considers factors such as market linkages, availability of technical capacity and particular barriers for rural enterprises.  
• Boosting responsible investments in clean energy infrastructure, services, and logistics can improve connectivity with rural areas, particularly areas with multidimensional poverty, to advance sustainability and promote positive socioeconomic outcomes.
• The mitigation hierarchy should be applied to clean energy project proposals as early as possible to ensure that all stages of the design process factor in potential harms to ecosystems and biodiversity. The mitigation hierarchy was explicitly recommended by the Cross Sector Biodiversity Initiative as a way to ensure that clean energy projects not only ‘do no harm’, but also leave the local environment in a better state than it was found. The hierarchy revolves around four core objectives: avoiding any potential negative impacts on biodiversity and minimizing those that cannot be avoided; restoring land that is harmed by the implementation of a project; and enhancing biodiversity within the project boundaries.
• Conduct an ex-ante assessment of the potential impact on environment of implementation of clean energy technologies and take mitigation measures.
• Conduct economic analyses (e.g. cost-benefit analysis) of planned measures. 

Accurately monitoring the transition to clean energy on farms requires robust tracking systems, well-defined metrics, and organized frameworks that reflect both the progress of implementation and its impacts on biodiversity and climate outcomes.

Indicators to monitor biodiversity outcomes

The Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity agreed to a comprehensive set of headline, component, and complementary indicators for tracking progress toward the targets of the KM-GBF. Some of these indicators could also be functional for monitoring the implementation of this policy option. These indicators are:

Tools to monitor biodiversity outcomes

Tools to monitor climate outcomes

The upfront costs of renewable energy can be high compared to conventional sources of energy. For example, individual solar pumps can be up to ten times more capital-intensive than conventional pumps of a similar size. However, life-cycle costs of renewable energy technologies are likely lower.

• For example, in Senegal, solar-powered irrigation systems can reduce operating costs by 40 to 50 percent per hectare relative to diesel-powered equipment and can increase farmers’ income by at least 15 percent per hectare.

Noteworthy examples of successful transitions to clean energy at the farm level include:

• The Australian Government, through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, has invested more than AUD 60 million in some 1,100 agricultural projects ranging from solar photovoltaics to efficient farm equipment, machinery upgrades and bioenergy solutions.
• Water and Energy for Food (WE4F), a joint initiative between the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the European Union, and other government development agencies, offers technical assistance, financial support, and investment facilitation for innovations in the water-food, energy-food, and water-energy-food domains globally. Through its Regional Innovation Hubs, WE4F supports smallholder farmers to unlock finance, technology, inputs, as well as access to markets, and assists farmers and food companies in reducing GHG emissions and enhancing climate resilience. Globally, WE4F-supported innovators impacted more than 920,000 smallholder farmers, of which 38 percent are women, with more than 400,000 end users earning higher incomes by growing more food with fewer resources (e.g. energy, water).

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