The commercialization of Km 0 agricultural and livestock products represents a strategic opportunity to enhance rural economic resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the food sector. This paper presents an original, policy-oriented framework that connects Km 0 distribution models with measurable CO₂ reductions, proposing a structured system of economic incentives to support their adoption. Grounded in a mixed-methods approach, including normative analysis, empirical modeling, and a regional case study in Galicia, Spain, we demonstrate the alignment of Km 0 policies with the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2023–2027 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Findings reveal substantial potential for environmental mitigation, improved farm profitability, and revitalization of rural economies. This work provides a comprehensive roadmap for integrating Km 0 into national agricultural strategies, supported by data-driven justification and scalable implementation models.

The commercialization of Km 0 products has emerged as a strategic approach to strengthening rural economies, promoting sustainability, and countering depopulation in European territories. This study examines the motivations and perceptions of three key stakeholder groups—farmers, restaurant businesses, and public officials—regarding rural permanence and the role of Km 0 commercialization. Based on original survey data collected in Spain (2024), the research adopts a comparative perspective to identify convergences and divergences across these actors. Results show that farmers perceive Km 0 as vital for the survival of family farms and the preservation of territorial identity, while restaurants view it as a competitive advantage to ensure freshness and authenticity in gastronomy. Public officials frame Km 0 as a governance tool for rural revitalization and demographic stabilization. Despite these different orientations, all groups converge on valuing quality of life, contact with nature, and sustainability. Structural constraints such as inadequate infrastructure, limited digital connectivity, and generational renewal remain significant barriers across contexts. Situating these findings within the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the agroecological transition framework, this article suggests that Km 0 commercialization holds potential as an instrument for sustainability, territorial resilience, and food sovereignty in contemporary rural Europe, while acknowledging that the exploratory nature of this study calls for caution in extrapolating these findings beyond the specific contexts examined.

The commercialization of Km 0 agricultural and livestock products represent a strategic opportunity to enhance rural economic resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the food sector. This paper presents an original, policy-oriented framework that connects Km 0 distribution models with measurable CO₂ reductions, proposing a structured system of economic incentives to support their adoption. Grounded in a mixed-methods approach, including normative analysis, empirical modelling, and a regional case study in Galicia, Spain, we demonstrate the alignment of Km 0 policies with the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2023-2027 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Findings reveal substantial potential for environmental mitigation, improved farm profitability, and revitalization of rural economies. This work provides a comprehensive roadmap for integrating Km 0 into national agricultural strategies, supported by data-driven justification and scalable implementation models.

Achieving carbon neutrality requires transformative changes across multiple sectors, including food systems. Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs) have been increasingly proposed as mechanisms capable of reducing transport-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while promoting more resilient forms of rural development. This study examines the potential contribution of SFSCs to carbon-neutral rural development using Galicia (Spain), with particular attention to the territories of Ferrolterra and As Pontes de García Rodríguez, as a case study. A scenario-based approach was employed to compare Regional Short Food Supply Chains and Conventional Long Supply Chains, assuming average transport distances of 80 km and 800 km, respectively. Transport-related greenhouse gas emissions were estimated using a ton-kilometre methodology based on European freight transport emission factors, while sensitivity analysis was conducted to evaluate the robustness of the findings under alternative assumptions. The results indicate that Regional Short Food Supply Chains generated approximately 90% lower transport-related emissions than Conventional Long Supply Chains, corresponding to an estimated reduction of 44.64 kg CO₂e per tonne of food transported. These differences remained stable across all sensitivity scenarios. The findings suggest that territorially embedded food systems may represent complementary instruments within broader climate-neutral development strategies, particularly in rural territories undergoing socioeconomic transitions associated with the decline of carbon-intensive activities. Although transport represents only one dimension of food-system sustainability, integrating regional food initiatives into climate and rural-development policies may contribute to reducing avoidable emissions while strengthening territorial resilience.

Short food supply chains (SFSCs) are often assumed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions because food travels fewer kilometers. That inference is incomplete when vehicle size, payload, chain stages and empty returns differ between short and conventional distribution. This study develops a transparent, logistics-adjusted scenario model for one tonne of fresh, unprocessed, non-frozen horticultural produce delivered to a point of sale in Ferrolterra, Galicia. Four configurations are compared: a direct producer-to-market SFSC, coordinated regional SFSC, optimized conventional long chain and fragmented conventional long chain. Representative road corridors connect As Pontes with Ferrol (43.1 km) and Almería with Ferrol (1144.3 km), but the analysis is explicitly prospective rather than an observation of actual trade flows. Well-to-wheel emissions are calculated from 2025 official vehicle-kilometer factors, differentiated by vehicle class and load, and propagated through 100,000 Monte Carlo iterations. Median emissions were 63.4 kg CO₂e t⁻¹ for a direct SFSC, 22.0 for a coordinated SFSC, 113.5 for the optimized long chain and 184.0 for the fragmented long chain. Direct SFSC emissions were lower than the optimized benchmark in 95.8% of simulations, but its 95% interval for relative reduction included a small disadvantage (−7.7% to 67.9%). Load factor was the dominant driver of direct-SFSC uncertainty (Spearman ρ = −0.866). At the representative local distance, the van required a payload above approximately 0.263 t to outperform the median optimized long-chain scenario. The results show that proximity is neither necessary nor sufficient for lower transport emissions: coordination and consolidation determine whether distance advantages are realized. SFSCs may support rural transition strategies, but claims about whole-food-system carbon neutrality or rural-development outcomes require empirical logistics data and full life-cycle assessment.