Introduction

Agriculture can play a relevant role in countries efforts to address climate change, helping them to transition to a low-carbon economy while pursuing economic growth and continuing to meet society’s needs. With agrobusiness being one of the major sources of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the world – with the direct emissions of GHG from agriculture accounting for approximately 10% of the total emissions of the European Union (EU) [6] –, agropreneurs should act as managers of the countryside and make sure their sector grows sustainable to help shape a low-carbon economy in rural areas.

Agrotourism can be a means to support the sustainable development of rural areas, helping farmers to balance economic growth – by exploring the viability of complementary economic strategies – with the need to transition to more sustainable development business strategies to preserve the natural assets which are indispensable for agricultural production [3]. Long-term sustainable agrotourism can, thus, change farmers mindset and educate visitors towards the mitigation of undesirable environmental impacts in rural areas.

Hence, the aim of module 4 ‘The role of agropreneurs in the low-carbon process’ is to provide both professionals in the tourism sector – i.e., SMEs and entrepreneurs – and VET providers key insights on what can be sustainable business growth strategies and activities in rural areas that efficiently balance economic and environmental sustainability, so that agrotourism businesses can reach an appropriate level of knowledge and skills to set up circular economy solutions and comply with environmental international/European goals.

This module is structured into 4 chapters as follows:

• Chapter 1: Climate change challenges for agriculture and agrobusiness development, identifying the main environmental problems that agricultural areas face nowadays and their negative impact on agrobusinesses and how agropreneurs should adapt to climate change challenges and adopt more sustainable practices.
• Chapter 2: Policy options on agriculture and rural low-carbon economy, specifying relevant international and European legislation and strategies for promoting low-carbon agricultural practices.
• Chapter 3: The role of agrotourism in a business low-carbon process, defining agrotourism as a particular model of agricultural business and presenting the diverse ways in which it can support agropreneurs to explore more sustainable development business models, contributing to a low-carbon economy.
• Chapter 4: tips for reducing the environmental impact of agrotourism activities, providing the practical suggestions for agropreneurs involved in agrotourism activities to pursue greener and circular economy-based business models, e.g., activities reducing carbon dioxide emissions, pollution, and initiatives that preserve and promote rural natural resources.

The learning objectives of this module are the following:

• To outline the reasons that explain why climate change endangers the development of agriculture and agrobusinesses (Chapter 1).
• To elaborate on the ways agropreneurs can adapt to climate change challenges and adopt more sustainable practices (Chapter 1).
• To recognise existing international and European policy options and strategies for promoting low-carbon agricultural practices (Chapter 2).
• To reflect on how existing legislation can support agropreneurs to achieve international and European low-carbon goals (Chapter 2).
• To define agrotourism as a particular model of agricultural business and list agrotourism activities (Chapter 3).
• To explain the important role of agrotourism on the implementation of more sustainable practices by agropreneurs in rural areas (Chapter 3).
• To identify relevant green strategies and activities that can help agropreneurs involved in agrotourism activities reduce their environment impact (Chapter 4).
• To reflect on how agropreneurs involved in agrotourism activities can efficiently set a green and circular economy business model (Chapter 4).

The specific topics chosen for this module take into consideration the feedback provided by tourism SMEs and VET providers from the tourism sector, which participated in a public consultation in April 2022.