alinnea has recently launched the Working Group on Climate Finance for the Agri-Food Sector with the holding of its first session, initiating a multi-stakeholder dialogue process aimed at identifying barriers, opportunities, and recommendations to accelerate the climate transition of Spain’s agri-food system.
This first meeting, which forms part of a three-session cycle (full program), brought together representatives from public administrations, financial institutions, agricultural organizations, the agri-food industry, research centers, and civil society organizations to analyse the current climate finance landscape and the main challenges that will shape the sector’s transformation in the coming years.
The session focused on the role of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the future Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), and other European financing instruments, examining how these mechanisms can contribute to strengthening the resilience, competitiveness, and sustainability of the agri-food system in a context of growing climate, economic, and geopolitical pressures. The discussion also explored the implications of the future CAP reform, opportunities linked to the bioeconomy and generational renewal, and the potential of innovative financial instruments to mobilise public and private investment.
The presentations and discussions highlighted that the sector’s climate transition cannot be understood solely as a budgetary issue or a matter of direct subsidies. Participants agreed that the challenges facing the sector are closely linked to issues such as climate adaptation, risk management, business competitiveness, value chain transformation, access to finance, and the ability to develop sustainable long-term business models.
Among the main topics discussed were the high dependence of certain farms on public support, uncertainties surrounding the future European financial architecture, the need to design instruments capable of mobilising private capital towards the agri-food transition, and the potential of new tools such as public guarantees, blended finance, and carbon and nature markets.
The working group responds to a priority identified by alinnea in recent years: the need to better understand how the climate finance ecosystem for the agri-food sector is evolving and which mechanisms can facilitate investments that simultaneously contribute to mitigation, adaptation, and resilience. The sector’s growing exposure to droughts, floods, and other extreme weather events makes it particularly important to advance financial schemes capable of reducing risks and supporting productive transformation processes.
Over the coming sessions, the group will further explore issues related to climate resilience, the future of agricultural insurance, financial instruments for adaptation, and the mobilisation of investment across the entire agri-food value chain. The ultimate objective is to build a shared evidence base and develop recommendations that contribute to the design of public policies, business strategies, and financial instruments aligned with the sector’s climate challenges.
