Effects on Regional Economic Performance of Agricultural Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies in Response to Climate Change

The article analyses the combined impacts of mitigation and adaptation strategies of agriculture on the economic performance in a case study region in Austria (South-Eastern Styria). With respect to mitigation the focus is on boosting the use of biomass as an energy carrier in order to substitute fossil fuel in heat generation. Adaptation is considered in the agricultural sector by using new crop varieties and technologies in order to reduce adverse impacts from climate change and thus stabilise agricultural output. Results show that both mitigation and adaptation are climate strategies suitable to compensate for climate-induced economic losses. At the same time, these strategies contribute to a low-carbon economy.