The European Commission has revealed new details of its proposal for the Building on the achievements of previous reforms, the future CAP will remain a cornerstone of EU policy, thus ensuring food security, environmental protection, and rural vitality, through a simpler and more balanced framework that combines basic requirements for farmers with stronger incentives for sustainable practices.
A New “Farm Stewardship” System
At the heart of the proposal lies an important innovation: the introduction of the “farm stewardship” system, replacing current conditionality with simpler and more focused requirements at EU level. This new system sets a common EU baseline for environmental protection, covering climate adaptation and mitigation, soil health, water resilience, biodiversity, and animal welfare, while giving Member States greater flexibility to adapt protective practices to their national contexts.
Farmers receiving area-based and animal-related CAP payments will be required to respect these protective standards and comply with the key EU laws on environment and social rights. Organic and small farms will benefit from simplified rules.
For the first time, these protective practices can be financially supported under environmental actions, helping farmers meet compliance costs. Member States will also be able to apply equivalence rules, allowing participation in more demanding environmental schemes to count toward stewardship obligations.
Incentivising Climate and Environmental Action
A central pillar of the future CAP is a strengthened focus on incentive-based action for climate and the environment. The Commission proposes a common set of voluntary interventions that Member States must integrate into their national CAP plans, ensuring that support addresses specific regional and environmental challenges in a flexible yet coherent way.
The new Agri-Environmental and Climate Actions (AECA) will merge existing eco-schemes and agri-environmental and climate commitments into a streamlined framework with harmonised but adaptable rules. These actions will provide incentive payments to farmers who maintain or adopt sustainable practices and transition toward more environmentally friendly and resilient production systems. A key innovation is that payments will no longer be strictly tied to additional costs or income foregone, giving Member States greater freedom to reward environmental services and create a “business case” for sustainability.
This new approach paves the way for more attractive payments for farmers who deliver stronger environmental outcomes, including a new transition payment of up to €200,000 which will further support transformative on-farm changes, such as the adoption of agroecological, organic, or carbon farming systems.
Support will also remain available for farmers and foresters fulfilling mandatory requirements under the EU Habitats and Birds Directives and the Water Framework Directive, compensating for additional costs or income losses. In addition, the CAP will continue to fund investments improving climate and environmental performance, including measures that boost resource efficiency, reduce pollution, and enhance competitiveness. Investment support will also extend to forestry and forest holders, as well as other stakeholders, such as municipalities and agri-food industries, where relevant to national or regional partnership plans.
Member States will further be required to provide accompanying tools that enhance the transition to sustainable and resilient farming, which include qualified advisory services, knowledge exchange, innovation and digitalisation measures, and cooperation projects, including those under the European Innovation Partnership (EIP-AGRI) for agricultural productivity and sustainability.
A Policy for a Green and Resilient Future
The proposed CAP architecture will maintain the successful elements of existing schemes, while enhancing monitoring and evaluation at the level of environmental and climate impact indicators, such as greenhouse gas emissions, soil quality, and air pollution.
With an ambitious target of 43% of CAP spending dedicated to environment and climate objectives of the National and Regional Partnership Plans, the 2028–2034 CAP will play a decisive role in achieving Europe’s green transition goals.
By combining stewardship rules, targeted incentives, and continued investment in knowledge and innovation, the future CAP (2028–2034) aims to support European farmers in contributing to the green transition, fostering a farming sector that is more sustainable, resilient, and competitive over the long term. This represents an initial outlook on the upcoming policy framework, with further details and updates expected as the next CAP takes shape.
