(BUG) OXSFG & CGFI PARTNERSHIP

Ground-breaking three year project aims to establish sector decarbonisation pathways and methodologies for measuring farm-level greenhouse gas emissions.

Barclays has today announced a major new three-year partnership with Oxford University's Sustainable Finance Group (OxSFG) and the UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment (CGFI) designed to help reduce emissions across the British agricultural industry.

The first of its kind project aims to provide better emissions data from the farming industry and establish decarbonisation pathways that would allow financial institutions to better support the agriculture sectors transition towards lower emissions and more sustainable practices.

Methods developed under the partnership will underpin the setting of medium-term environmental targets by Barclays to reduce emissions resulting from financing activities to agriculture clients, which the bank described as key to meeting its commitment to align its financing with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

"The financial sector has a crucial role to play in unlocking the rapid decarbonisation of the agricultural sector," said Dr Ben Caldecott, director of the OxSFG and CGFI. "We are delighted to partner with Barclays on this project, creating open data and analytics that can drive better financial decisions. This project will support UK farmers and the UK agriculture sector to achieve net zero."

Adam White, Barclays' head of agriculture, said that bank was "very excited" to be working with the university to deliver better farm-level emissions data. "Farmers we talk to across the UK are keen to engage on the journey to net zero, however they are sometimes unsure of the actions to take or the impact of those actions," he said. "This work will enable us to support more customers on confidently taking the steps towards net zero in line with sector pathways and continue to support a vibrant UK agriculture sector."

The bank said that securing more accurate emissions data from farms and establishing credible decarbonisation pathways would make it easier for the financial sector to back projects that can curb agricultural emissions and enhance climate resilience, while also boosting yields and maintaining food security.

Barclays said it will incorporate the results of the research into BlueTrack, the bank's methodology for measuring financed emissions and tracking them at a portfolio-level against a benchmark aligned to the goals of the Paris Agreement.

However, it also stressed that the outputs from the project would be made publicly available, allowing other financial institutions to gain access to valuable data and methodologies to calculate their agriculture-related portfolio emissions and set emission reduction targets.

The launch of the project comes at a time of considerable uncertainty for the UK farming sector as the government continues to review its plans to radically reform the current farming subsidy regime. Environmental groups have urged the government to retain plans to switch to a new approach that would see landowners paid subsidies based on the delivery of a range of ecosystem services and the adoption of more sustainable farming practices - an approach where the development of more accurate methodologies for measuring emissions and environmental impacts will be critical.

However, some farmers have pushed back against the proposed reforms, arguing they could undermine productivity and urging the government to retain the current system of paying farmers based on how much land they own. Business Green - link - James Murray - link - more like this (UOX) - link