Research and analysis

Farming Sector Environmental Objectives: agricultural decarbonisation

Published 22 October 2026

Applies to England

1. Objective title

The farming sector and delivery partners will deliver at least 1.63 million tonnes CO2e agricultural emissions abatement per annum by the end of Carbon Budget 6 (2037)

2. Objective overview

In 2024, the United Kingdom was estimated to have produce 373 million tonnes CO2 equivalent (CO2e) of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, of which agriculture was responsible for 46.5 million tonnes CO2e (12%).

CO2e is a metric used to quantify the global warming potential (GWP) of different greenhouse gases relative to carbon dioxide. For instance, Methane is attributed a GWP of 27 by the International Panel of Climate Change, meaning that a tonne of methane has the same GWP of 27 tonnes of carbon dioxide. 

Since 1990, annual emissions have declined by around 15%, with the majority of emissions from livestock and fertiliser usage.

Through this objective, Defra is pursuing measures to further mitigate on‑farm agricultural emissions, considering a broad range of pathways including improvements in on-farm efficiency and innovative farming practices.

3. Relevant targets and commitments

Carbon Budget 6

The Climate Change Committee issues a series of reports advising the UK Government on key milestones for achieving Net Zero. These Carbon Budgets set legally binding, five‑year caps on greenhouse gas emissions through to 2050.

Using Carbon Budget 6, covering the period 2033 to 2037, the following target is set:

• by 2037, we will reduce annual net emissions through agriculture, forestry and other land uses (AFOLU) by 4.9Mt CO2e per annum, in line with the Sixth Carbon Budget.

Environmental Improvement Plan

The Environmental Improvement Plan 2025 (EIP25) has also committed to:

• reduce and report on carbon emissions from farming and agricultural practices in line with Carbon Budgets 4, 5 and 6 (2023 to 2037)

4. Delivery approach

4.1 Methodology

The Delivering Clean Growth through Sustainable Intensification (CGSI) project report was commissioned by Defra in order to identify approaches to reduce GHG emissions from agriculture. The resulting evidence base, published in 2022, provided on-farm mitigation measures and mechanisms for policy interventions to reduce GHG emissions across English agriculture. This evidence base also informed the Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan (CBGDP).

Mitigation measures identified in the CGBDP were reviewed against Countryside Stewardship (CS) and Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) schemes to identify contributing actions, which can be found in Table 1. For these actions, estimated abatement potential from the CGSI report was used to calculate the uptake required to meet the agricultural sector’s shared emissions target.

Progress towards this objective is measured as the net change in the total uptake of key environmental land management (ELM) actions in live agreements at the point of measurement, compared with 2018 levels. All key actions are measured in hectares.

Supporting actions make a direct or indirect contribution that is not measurable with current methodologies, and therefore not included in achieved uptake. Inclusion may change as further evidence and information becomes available.

Additional mitigation measures within CBGDP focused on activities outside of ELM schemes, such as covering slurry tanks, methane‑suppressing feed products, and other livestock‑based initiatives. These are currently under internal review to determine their eligibility within agri-environment schemes, quantify their sequestration or emissions impacts and establish robust reporting methods through the available data.

4.2 Assumptions and baselines

Contributing live uptake is measured against uptake as of 31 December 2018, with only net changes counted towards this objective. Deadweight is also removed from live uptake, accounting for relevant activity that does not represent additionality caused by agri-environment schemes. Contributing options are able to overlap within a land parcel, meaning that action area can viably exceed land area.

4.3 Key and supporting actions

Table 1: Environmental land management actions contributing to Agricultural Decarbonisation

Action Code	Action Name	Scheme	Type
CSW14	Nil fertiliser supplement	CS Higher Tier	Key
CGS4	Herbal leys	CS Higher Tier	Key
CGS25	Legumes on improved grassland	CS Higher Tier	Key
SW14	Nil fertiliser supplement	Countryside Stewardship	Key
GS4	Legume and herb-rich swards	Countryside Stewardship	Key
OP4	Multi species ley	Countryside Stewardship	Key
SW6	Winter cover crops	Countryside Stewardship	Key
AB15	Two year sown legume fallow	Countryside Stewardship	Key
WBD9	Supplement: Nil fertiliser	SFI Expanded Offer	Key
CNUM2	Legumes on improved grassland	SFI Expanded Offer	Key
CSAM3	Herbal leys	SFI Expanded Offer	Key
CIPM3	Companion crop on arable and horticultural land	SFI Expanded Offer	Key
CSAM2	Multi-species winter cover crop	SFI Expanded Offer	Key
SOH2	Multi-species spring-sown cover crop	SFI Expanded Offer	Key
SOH3	Multi-species summer-sown cover crop	SFI Expanded Offer	Key
SOH4	Winter cover following maize crops	SFI Expanded Offer	Key
CNUM3	Legume fallow	SFI Expanded Offer	Key
PRF1	Variable rate application of nutrients	SFI Expanded Offer	Key
NUM2	Establish and maintain legumes	Sustainable Farming Incentive 2023	Key
SAM3	Herbal leys	Sustainable Farming Incentive 2023	Key
IPM3	Establish a companion crop	Sustainable Farming Incentive 2023	Key
IGS4	Establish and maintain herbal leys on at least 15% of land in this level of the standard	Sustainable Farming Incentive 2022	Key
SAM2	Multi-species winter cover crops	Sustainable Farming Incentive 2023	Key
CNUM1	Assess nutrient management and produce a review report	SFI Expanded Offer	Supporting
CIPM1	Assess integrated pest management and produce a plan	SFI Expanded Offer	Supporting
NUM1	Complete a nutrient management (NM) assessment and produce an NM review report	Sustainable Farming Incentive 2023	Supporting
IPM1	Complete an integrated pest management (IPM) assessment and produce an IPM plan	Sustainable Farming Incentive 2023	Supporting
AHS1	complete a soil assessment and produce a soil management plan	Sustainable Farming Incentive 2022	Supporting
IGS1	complete a soil assessment and produce a soil management plan	Sustainable Farming Incentive 2022	Supporting

4.4 Required trajectory 

The level of uptake required for contributing actions to meet the long‑term objective has been projected to 2050. This projection is informed by the CGSI high mitigation scenario, developed through an independently peer-reviewed assessment of the emissions reduction potential of relevant measures, complemented by stakeholder engagement on the feasibility of deploying them.

This objective uses the projections for CGSI mitigation measures which can be delivered through agri-environment schemes, estimating an area-based value to determine the required trajectory.

This trajectory is based on analysis of historic uptake of environmental land management schemes and illustrates the annual uptake that would be required to contribute to the environmental objective by the end of the assessment period. Its shape is informed by assumptions about economic and behavioural factors and delivery constraints.

As information on future schemes is not currently available, the trajectory should not be interpreted as a forecast of uptake or as an indication of future scheme availability.

Figure 1: Required uptake of actions contributing to Agricultural Decarbonisation to 2050, hectares

Source: Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

5. Technical information

Objective	Agricultural Decarbonisation
Related commitments	Statutory carbon emission reduction
Reporting status	Interim
Contributing schemes	CS, CS-HT, SFI
Aggregation method	Agreements live as at the capture date
Geographical scope	England
First reported	October 2026
Last updated	October 2026