News

After four years of collaboration, the EU-funded BEATLES project is approaching its conclusion, marking an important step forward in understanding how behavioural change can accelerate the transition towards sustainable and climate-smart agri-food systems.

Funded under the Horizon Europe programme, BEATLES (Co-creating Behavioural Change Towards Climate-Smart Food Systems) set out to tackle one of the main challenges in European agriculture: despite the availability of innovative solutions, the uptake of sustainable and climate-smart practices remains limited. The project therefore focused on identifying the behavioural, systemic and policy-related factors that influence decision-making across the agri-food value chain.

Adopting a holistic food systems approach, BEATLES analysed multiple value chains (cereals, dairy, livestock, fruits and vegetables) across different European regions. Through co-creation activities involving farmers, advisors, policymakers and other key stakeholders, the project generated valuable insights into the lock-ins and levers that either hinder or enable the adoption of climate-smart practices.

These insights have been translated into a range of concrete outputs, including business strategies, policy recommendations and tools to support behaviourally informed policymaking. By doing so, BEATLES contributes to key EU priorities such as the Farm to Fork Strategy and the Common Agricultural Policy, supporting the transition towards fairer, more resilient and environmentally sustainable food systems.

Over the course of the project, climate-smart agricultural practices and innovative technologies were tested through pilot cases across Europe, providing evidence-based results to support more effective policy design, business modelling and advisory services for farmers.

As the project reaches its final phase in 2026, its outcomes will continue to support the design and implementation of policies and strategies that foster long-term behavioural change in agri-food systems.

Sustainable Innovations’ role

Within BEATLES, Sustainable Innovations played a key role in fostering stakeholder engagement and maximising the project’s long-term impact. The team was responsible for bringing together key agri-food stakeholders across Europe, creating a strong network of interest to support knowledge exchange and collaboration.

In addition, Sustainable Innovations led activities related to exploitation, innovation management and intellectual property strategies, ensuring that the project’s results can be effectively translated into real-world applications and continue delivering value beyond the project’s lifetime.

Through its involvement, the organisation contributed to strengthening the link between research outcomes and market uptake, supporting the transition towards more sustainable and climate-smart agri-food systems.

Looking ahead

The BEATLES project highlights the importance of combining technological innovation with behavioural insights to achieve systemic change. By addressing not only what needs to change, but also how change can be effectively adopted, the project provides a solid foundation for future initiatives aiming to transform Europe’s agri-food systems.