Agriculture ‘core area’ for EU’s 2040 climate targets – Commission report

By 2040, the EU’s agricultural sector should be able to cut non-CO2 emissions by at least 30% compared to 2015 levels, with livestock and fertiliser use key to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a draft communication on the 2040 EU climate target states. 

The draft document, seen by Euractiv, details the EU’s path to reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 90% compared to 1990 levels and achieving climate neutrality by 2050. It is expected to be presented on 6 February.

Two pages of the document are dedicated to how changes in the land, food and bioeconomy sectors will contribute to these targets.

“With the right policies and support,” the Communication states, it “should be possible both to reduce non-CO2 GHG emissions in the agriculture sector by at least 30% in 2040 compared to 2015”, and to “enhance the capacity of soils & forests to store more carbon”.

To achieve this, the document calls for scaling up the implementation on the ground of agricultural practices available at “relatively low cost”, such as producing “biomethane from manure, or optimising fertilisers application through precision farming”.

In addition, the agricultural and forestry sectors combined “could become climate neutral as early as 2035”, the paper says.

The 2035 objective was previously floated in the European Commission’s impact assessment of its EU climate laws. In that document, the Commission wrote that “the combined agriculture and forestry and land use sectors (AFOLU) are projected to achieve net-zero GHG emissions around 2035 in trajectories towards a climate neutral EU by 2050”.

Carbon pricing paving the way

Carbon pricing in agriculture will be key to achieving these targets, the draft paper argues, referring to it as a way to “create business opportunities for a more sustainable agrifood value chain”.

Carbon pricing for agriculture key to cutting emissions, say EU climate advisers

Current policies are not a sufficient incentive for farmers to do more to achieve the EU climate targets, according to the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC) experts, who warned of the need for a carbon pricing system for the sector.

The food industry, the document adds, “should receive the right incentives to procure more sustainable food ingredients from farmers and to make healthier diets based on diversified protein intake the easiest and most affordable choice for consumers”. 

A 2022 Commission study investigated how a carbon pricing system similar to the EU’s Emission Trading System (ETS) would work for the agricultural sector.

The study proposed five possible scenarios for how the principle could be applied to farming, according to the supply chain players involved. For example, it could be all types of farms, or only livestock farms, food industry, or input producers – which would include fertilisers and feed producers and importers.

A 2021 report by the European Court of Auditors recommended that the Commission should “assess the potential of applying the polluter-pays principle to agricultural emissions, and reward farmers for long-term carbon removals”. 

[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]

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