EU-funded project develops framework to measure climate neutrality in rural areas
- Rural Pact
- Rural Revitalisation Platform
- Resilient rural areas
- Climate
- Nature and environment
- Energy
Rural areas are essential to advance EU climate neutrality goals, but most existing monitoring tools are designed for urban contexts. The EU-funded project GRANULAR has launched a framework to bridge this gap and empower rural communities in their climate action.
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The framework provides a structured and locally sensitive approach to tracking progress in climate neutrality in rural areas.
It addresses the need for tailored monitoring tools that recognise the diverse environmental, social and economic realities of rural areas. Current tools are largely designed for urban contexts, overlooking the distinct challenges of rural regions, such as mobility gaps and the complexities of small-scale farming.
The framework is grounded in values of environmental sustainability, fairness, resilience and affordability. It proposes over 100 indicators covering areas like energy, mobility, agriculture and waste, with the possibility to adjust indicator weights and benchmarks based on local priorities.
This work aligns with the EU rural vision, ensuring coherence between local climate strategies and broader EU sustainability and resilience objectives.
The GRANULAR project is funded by Horizon Europe and aims at generating new datasets, tools and methods to better understand rural areas.
Discover GRANULAR’s report, presentations and recording of the dedicated webinar on the framework.
Explore the latest Rural Pact resources on the topic of climate.