Environmental policy in Europe melts under pressure from agriculture – 02/19/2024 – Environment

The outbreak of farmer protests in several European Union countries has called into question progress in the European bloc’s environmental protection and energy transition policies.

Although the demands of the agricultural sector have important differences between the various Member States, there is a common complaint: the increase in environmental requirements would be strangling the sector and threatening the viability of crops on the old continent.

Amid the demonstrations, which began in France but spread from Portugal to Poland, the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, has made a series of concessions.

In recent weeks, the commission has already abandoned a plan to reduce the use of pesticides, granted a temporary exemption to the requirements for “resting” part of the soil between crops and withdrew the project to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% – in relation to 2015 levels – in the agriculture sector, among other measures.

Among environmentalists, there is fear that the situation in the European Union, which in recent years has played a leading role in climate negotiations, could end up having negative repercussions on other parts of the world.

“These changes in Europe strengthen the anti-environmental argument that already exists in other places”, assesses Paulo Barreto, researcher at Imazon (Institute of Man and the Environment of the Amazon).

According to him, the conditions of European agriculture were already being used as a justification, among some sectors of Brazilian agriculture, in defense of fewer environmental requirements for Brazilian producers.

“In Brazil, there has been this conversation for several years, especially in forestry terms, that Europeans demanded much more from Brazilians than they did themselves, such as the issue of legal reserves,” he stated. A situation that, in the researcher’s assessment, could intensify.

The scientist recalls that, both in Europe and Brazil, protecting the forest and the environment brings benefits to the producers themselves. “The forest is insurance against climate extremes that harm agriculture, energy generation and much more.”

Even though agriculture is responsible for only 1.4% of the EU’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product), the sector continues to have great political and social capital. In addition to common European measures, Member States have also presented domestic benefit packages to try to cool the mood in the countryside.

With the disruptions to global production and supply chains caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and, more recently, the war between Russia and Ukraine, the defense of the production of essential food goods within the borders of the European Union has intensified across the bloc. .

It is no coincidence that agriculture and the European Union’s environmental policies should be among the central themes of the European Parliament election campaign in June.

Speeches opposing the bloc’s main measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are already common in the repertoire of ultra-right parties, but they are not exclusive to the most radical parties.

In recent months, the EPP (European People’s Party) – a group of conservative and Christian democratic parties that has 178 of the 705 seats in the European Parliament – ​​intensified the offensive against some of the environmental texts.

Thanks to the group’s mobilization, in November, MEPs rejected the proposal to reduce pesticides that was part of the so-called EU Green Deal. Now, the PPE has made a series of statements in favor of the protesters’ demands.

The party may also be committed to reversing the decision, already approved by MEPs, to end the production of combustion vehicles in the European Union by 2035. According to a report in the newspaper Politico, the preliminary version of the European People’s Party’s manifesto for June elections defends reopening these discussions.

Voting intention surveys indicate a growing trend for ultra-right parties in the next continental election. On the other hand, projections show a sharp drop in the groups that make up The Greens – the environmentalist group in Parliament.

Buoyed by the popularity of movements such as that of the young Swedish Greta Thunberg, the Greens had their best result in the 2019 elections. Projections for June, however, indicate that the group could be reduced to a third of its current dimensions.

Given this situation, for many analysts, the new legislature of the European Parliament – ​​which has five-year mandates – should be less sensitive to the environmental agenda.

It will be up to the next MEPs to approve some critical issues for European climate ambitions, such as the review of voluntary emissions commitments. The European Union has already committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, but a series of measures still need to be defined to achieve this goal.

A report published in January by the Scientific Advisory Council on Climate Change, a body created by the EU Climate Law itself, recommended that Member States adopt a target of 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, compared to levels from 1990 until 2040.

“The EU has made great strides in strengthening its climate policy framework in recent years, but achieving climate neutrality by 2050 is a race against the clock, and we cannot afford to back down now,” said the president of the Council of scientists, Ottmar Edenhofer.

“To stay on track, we need to ensure that current actions are in line with our long-term objectives and that we begin to prepare for even deeper reductions after 2030,” he added.

Although the committee’s formal guidance was for a significant reduction, the final decision depends on laws that will only be presented and voted on in the next legislature of the European Parliament.

Agriculture currently represents around 11% of European Union emissions. Even though the sector has been spared major cutting demands so far, the European bloc is unlikely to meet reduction targets without implementing changes on the ground.