BEATLES policy recommendations and tools, Deliverable 5.1

This deliverable presents the BEATLES policy recommendations and tools developed to support the transition towards Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) in Europe. It translates the evidence generated throughout the project into a practical policy-oriented framework for designing, implementing and monitoring CSA policies, with particular attention to the future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the proposed National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPPs). The report builds on behavioural research, sustainability and economic assessments, policy analysis, stakeholder engagement and five territorial use cases covering different European farming systems: wheat farming in Lithuania, pig farming in Denmark, organic dairy farming in Germany, potato and onion production in the Netherlands, and organic apple farming in Spain. A central conclusion of the deliverable is that CSA transitions are not constrained primarily by the availability of technical solutions, but by behavioural, economic, institutional and governance factors that influence adoption. These include risk perception, trust, advisory capacity, market conditions, policy coherence, access to finance and the ability of governance systems to support long-term change. The deliverable introduces the BEATLES Climate-Smart Agriculture Policy Toolkit, an integrated decision-support framework structured around three tools: the CSA Policy Readiness and Enabling Conditions Checklist, the CSA Intervention Design Tool, and the CSA Performance Monitoring Tool. Together, these tools support policymakers across the full policy cycle, from diagnosis and planning to implementation, monitoring and adaptive learning. The report also presents 12 operational policy recommendations addressing key areas such as policy coherence, adaptive programming, fairness and just transitions, behavioural policy design, CAP simplification, AKIS and advisory systems, outcome-based monitoring, digitalisation and long-term strategic planning. By combining project evidence, practical tools and policy recommendations, this deliverable aims to support European institutions, Managing Authorities, regional administrations, advisory services, AKIS actors and other stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of CSA policies. The outputs are also available through the dedicated BEATLES online platform: www.climatesmartagri.eu.