This projects aims at unifying data and tools related to the assessment of energy consumption and GHG emissions in farms. Based on existing sotware tools that have been developed and tested in France and Spain, the members of the project will develop a common tool that will be applicable throughout the whole of the European Union in order to combat climate change through farming. This tool is called ACCT (AgriClimateChange Tool).

The first stage will comprise a compilation of existing information on energy audits, energy-saving programmes and the most relevant studies and documents related to energy balances in farms. The software tool is mainly based on two tools developed by partners of the project:

• Planéte  is a software tool that was created by Solagro in collaboration with other entities in the late 90’s and it was later improved as a tool for energy and emissions analysis in farms; it allows comparisons between different production methods, proposes corrections related to farming practices and can be used for most production phases. It is easily used and its effectiveness has been proved in France. It comprises an excel document and a questionnaire.
• The Consejería de Agricultura y Agua de la Región de Murcia, together with research entities, created a software tool, Less CO2, that calculates GHG emissions and energy balances in farms. It is based on different international standards and protocols. In particular, ISO 14064 1,2 and 3, The Greenhouse Protocol and PAS 2050 were used. Energy auditioning processes have taken place in 55 farms and Región de Murcia has ellaborated interactive guides for carbon footprint calculations.

A software tool is going to be designed taking into account these two tools and all the information compiled by all the project members about other existing evaluation methods.