A new report from the EU's Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change, ESABCC, outlines how the union's food production can adapt to climate change to reduce emissions and avoid food shortages. Climate change is already causing significant losses in agriculture, especially in southern Europe. Measures such as drought-resistant crops and redirected subsidies are proposed to address the threats.
Climate change is severely impacting the EU's food production, leading to annual losses of about 300 billion kronor in agriculture, according to a report published on March 11, 2026, by ESABCC. The council, established in 2021 to provide scientific guidance toward climate neutrality by 2050, warns of escalating consequences with rising temperatures. In southern Europe, heat stress, drought, and extreme weather have rendered agricultural land unusable in areas like parts of Greece and Sicily.
Lars J Nilsson, professor at Lund University and ESABCC member, states: "The biggest threats are still in southern Europe. For example, agricultural land in parts of Greece and on Sicily has been abandoned and can no longer be used." In northern Europe, higher temperatures and CO2 levels might accelerate crop growth, but with reduced nutritional value and more frequent crop losses from extreme weather.
The report recommends climate adaptation through locally tailored measures such as drought-resistant crops, shading hedges, drainage areas for heavy rainfall, and more efficient water use. To reduce emissions, which account for 17 percent of the EU's total, subsidies should be redirected from climate-intensive activities like meat production and drained peatland farming, which represent over half of agriculture's emissions. Nilsson emphasizes: "The large supports that are still paid out to agricultural activities that are directly bad from a climate perspective must be removed."
Meat consumption should decrease to meet climate goals, but grazing cattle is needed for biodiversity, and compensation for ecosystem services is proposed. Line Gordon, professor at Stockholm University, calls the report important: "It clearly shows that a comprehensive transformation is required to avoid serious problems in the future. The cost of that transformation is small compared to what it will cost otherwise." The shift is seen as essential for a resilient agricultural sector and enhanced food security.
