20th Meeting of the Task Force on Reactive Nitrogen (TFRN-20)

Thursday 23th  –  Friday 24th October 2025

Venue: Hotel Marienlyst, Helsingør, Denmark and online (hybrid)

 


 

Draft Agenda

 

Thursday 23rd October.       

1430 CEST.  Session 1: Strategic Overview of TFRN tasks, in particular in relation to revision of the Gothenburg Protocol.

1430-1435. Welcome from the lead country  (Anna Gran et al., Ministry of Environment of Denmark), and the TFRN co-chairs Tommy Dalgaard et al.

1435-1450. Status of Gothenburg Protocol Revision Process: Emerging messages from the Helsingør Heads of Delegation Meeting  (Till Spranger, Chair, Working Group on Strategies and Review, WGSR. and Dominique Pritula, EB Chair (tbc)). 

1450-1510.  General discussion on emerging issues for Gothenburg Protocol revision process. Key themes for discussion:

  1. Possible scope of future provisions and necessary tasks where TFRN can help
  2. Relationship between possible advisory and mandatory actions related to ammonia (Ammonia Guidance Document, Framework Code, Annex IX, National Ammonia Codes, National Nitrogen Budgets).
  3. How can a perspective on the circular economy and wider economic benefits help mobilize action on ammonia mitigation in the context of the wider N cycle.

 

1510 CEST.  Session 2: Updating guidance on ammonia mitigation and information on costs and benefits.

1510-1515. Role and opportunities for the UNECE Ammonia Guidance Document (Shabtai Bittman, Co-chair of TFRN Expert Panel on Mitigation of Agricultural Nitrogen, EPMAN, and Agriculture Canada).  

 

1515-1525. Status update on revising the UNECE Ammonia Guidance Document including report of the Brussels Workshop (Alberto Sanz and Rasmus Einarsson).

1525-1535. General discussion on status and actions for revising the Ammonia Guidance Document (Chair: Mark Sutton).

1535-1600. Tea/Coffee break.

1600-1610.  Synthesizing information on key measures, costs and economic benefits of ammonia mitigation (Barbara Amon, co-chair EPMAN, Leibniz-Institut für Agrartechnik und Bioökonomie, ATB, Germany).

1610-1620. Principles of calculating the farm costs and benefits of ammonia mitigation. Case studies. (Helmut Döhler, Döhler Agrar).

1625-1640. Ammonia mitigation - Measures and Cost Calculations for Danish Livestock Farms. Cheap Options and Co-benefits? (Brian Jacobsen, University of Copenhagen and Peter Kai, Aarhus University, Denmark)

1640-1650. A farm accounting perspective to reducing ammonia emissions. Making the business case for investment (Jack Blakiston Houston, BH Estates). 

1650-1720. General discussion on ammonia mitigation costs and benefits.  Low-hanging fruit and the need for investment. Key themes for discussion:

  1. How should we put a price on the benefits through nitrogen savings?
  2. How can we build confidence to support mitigation investments by farmers?
  3. Which measures can save farmers money and which ones can only be justified by their environmental benefits?
  4. What are the further evidence needs of the Parties?

1720-1725. Reaction: Opportunities for refining regional assessment of costs and benefits through the GAINS model (Wilfried Winiwarter, CIAM). 

1725-1730. Summary of key messages of day 1 (Mark Sutton, Co-chair TFRN, UKCEH).

 

1900. Joint dinner to be arranged by participants in person.

 

 

 

Friday 24th October.

0900 CEST. Opening  (Mark Sutton, Co-chair TFRN, UKCEH).

0900-0910 Re-cap of key messages from Thursday? Flexibility to adapt agenda.

0910-0920. State of the ‘National Ammonia Codes’ required under Annex IX (Claudia Marques dos Santos, Co-chair TFRN, Portugal) + short report from the UNECE TFTEI Task Force on Techno-Economic Issues meeting.

0920 CEST.  Session 3: National case studies. Evidence from Parties on ammonia and nitrogen mitigation strategies. 

0920-0935. Building the case for action: reducing ammonia emissions in the context of improving the performance of Spanish farms. (Odón Sobrino, Ministerio de agricultura pesca y alimentacion, Spain).

0935-0950.  Danish experience on N mitigation and ammonia reductions from 1990 to the present. Progress and mitigation lessons learned - from BAT to critical limits and nature protection (Nick Hutchings, Johanna Pedersen, Jesper Kamp, Brian Jacobsen, Peter Kai, Jesper Let Bak et al., Aarhus University, Denmark) 

0950-1000.  Key messages from the UK House of Lords Nitrogen Inquiry. (Ulli Dragosits and Kevin Hicks, UKCEH,  and SEI-York, UK).  

1000-1020. General discussion on future opportunities for national experience sharing on ammonia and nitrogen management.

 

1020 CEST.  Session 4: National Nitrogen Budgets. How they can help, call for evidence and state of progress.

1020-1030.  Status update of the UNECE Guidance Document on National Nitrogen Budgets and call for data (Wilfried Winiwarter, Co-chair EPNB, CIAM, Austria).

1030-1045.  How can national nitrogen budgets help? Case studies of progress to date, highlighted by the German experience. (Marcus Geupel, Co-chair, TFRN Expert Panel on National Nitrogen Budgets, EPNB, Umweltbundesamt, Germany). 

1045-1100. General discussion on progressing action on national nitrogen budgets, including in the context of Gothenburg Protocol revision.

 

1100-1130. Tea/Coffee break. 

 

1130 CEST.  Session 5: Nitrogen, Food and Food waste. How to develop opportunities for non-technical approaches to reduce nitrogen pollution with multiple co-benefits.

1130-1145. General discussion on how to progress action on sustainable diets, including in the context of Gothenburg Protocol revisions. 

Reflections of EPNF continuation and what implication this has on future EPNF work (moderated by Till/Mark/Tommy).

  • How can ‘sustainable diet’ be included in the Gothenburg Protocol revisions?
  • Do we need EPNF3 and if so what should be the content/mandate? Finding champions!

 

1145-1250 Session 6: Agreement on next steps

1145-1200.  Review of the TFRN work plan 2025-2026 (Tommy Dalgaard, Mark Sutton)

1200-1230. General discussion on the TFRN work plan item by item, especially in the context of Gothenburg Protocol revisions.

Key points: 

  1. Making the case for action on ammonia and nitrogen. What needs more attention?
  2. What has yet to be completed from the 2024/25 work plan?
  3. Timeline and responsibilities for TFRN items in the draft 2026/27 work plan.
  4. How to mobilize investment in sustainable nitrogen management for farmers, environment and wider society.
  5. How to mobilize investment in the work of TFRN. 

1230-1240.  Closing comments from stakeholders.

  • Anna Gran et al. EU Presidency, , Ministry of Environment of Denmark
  • Penny Dilara, European Commission (tbc)/ Dominique Pritula, EB Chair (tbc)
  • Till Spranger, Chair, Working Group on Strategies and Review.

 

1250 End of meeting.

 

Lunch provided for in person participants   

 

REGISTRATION

Please use this link to sign up for online participation: https://events.au.dk/registrationforthetfrn-20

Documentation