Quantifying Trade-Offs and Synergies in Climate-Smart Food Systems: EEIO/MRIO and CGE Evidence for Effective Policy Design

Climate-smart food systems research is rapidly evolving to address global challenges around agricultural emissions, supply chain sustainability, and food security in the face of climate change. Despite recognition of the interconnectedness of mitigation, adaptation, and productivity within agri-food systems, much of the current research focuses on these objectives separately, resulting in fragmented understanding and limited policy guidance. Notably, emissions mitigation efforts often overlook indirect impacts across value chains, while adaptation and resilience measures tend to be examined outside the broader market and socio-economic context. Recent advances in environmentally extended input–output (EEIO/MRIO) modeling, computable general equilibrium (CGE/GTAP) scenarios, and trade-in-value-added analysis have provided new insights, such as quantifying embodied emissions, tracing economic value along supply chains, and simulating carbon pricing implications for competitiveness and leakage. However, there remains a significant gap in integrating these approaches to produce holistic, actionable evidence that captures the trade-offs and synergies inherent in climate-smart policy design. This Research Topic aims to consolidate and advance robust, quantitative research that links climate policy and climate risk to outcomes across agri-food value chains and global trade networks. The objective is to foster a better understanding of where emissions and value are created within food systems, evaluate how climate shocks and adaptation strategies propagate through interconnected markets, and systematically assess the performance of climate-smart policy packages under real-world uncertainty. Specific questions include: How can emissions and responsibility along value chains be more transparently accounted for? What are the implications of carbon pricing for competitiveness and emissions leakage? How can adaptation investments be framed and assessed in terms of economic resilience and distributional impacts? Through this, the Research Topic seeks to identify policy options that deliver co-benefits while minimizing trade-offs among mitigation, resilience, and productivity goals. The scope of this Research Topic encompasses empirical and modeling studies employing EEIO/MRIO, CGE/GTAP, and hybrid approaches to investigate climate-smart strategies at multiple scales, while recognizing the limits of each method and the necessity for cross-comparison and integration. To gather further insights within these boundaries, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes: EEIO/MRIO mapping of emissions, resource use, and value added across supply chains and international trade CGE/GTAP and hybrid-model simulations of carbon pricing, revenue recycling, technology adoption, and subsidy reform Quantification of climate-shock transmission through agri-food networks, including impacts on prices, employment, and welfare Cross-commodity, cross-country, or cross-scenario analyses to extract robust policy insights Methodological innovations in scenario design, uncertainty analysis, and the integration of economic and climate models Appendix: We encourage submissions in the form of original research articles, reviews, methodological papers, and policy perspectives addressing the outlined aims and themes. Topic editors: Eduardo Rodrigues Sanguinet, Aurelie Harou, Francesco Cenerini Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/80791/quantifying-trade-offs-and-synergies-in-climate-smart-food-systems-eeiomrio-and-cge-evidence-for-effective-policy-design