Environment and climate
The increased need for action in the fields of environmental and climate protection also places an obligation on the Common Agricultural Policy. This is why the call for increased environmental and climate ambition resulted in the biggest innovation in the first pillar: The introduction of the new eco-schemes.
Schemes for the environment and the climate (eco-schemes)
With the eco-schemes, for the first time voluntary environmental and climate-related interventions for farmers are financed from funds of the first pillar. In concrete terms, around 15 % of the direct payment funds are earmarked for them. In order to ensure broad acceptance and use of this new tool, the choice of suitable interventions was based on four proven measures of Austria’s Agri-environmental Programme (ÖPUL):
- Greening of arable land - Cultivation of catch crops
- Greening of arable land - “Evergreen” system
- Erosion control in vineyards, fruit and hops
- Animal welfare – pasture
The selection of these measures not only ensures a high level of utilisation, but also provides funds for additional environmental and climate benefits in the second pillar. The premium for the eco-scheme is paid per hectare of eligible land or, in the case of the intervention “Animal welfare – pasture”, per livestock unit. The details on the design of the measures can be found in the Special Directive ÖPUL