Today I had the pleasure of contributing to a panel discussion on the European Green Deal at the annual DG AGRI workshop on the medium-term outlook for EU agricultural markets, income and environment. This post consists of a slightly extended version of my remarks.
The European Green Deal is a growth strategy that aims to transform the EU into a prosperous, fair, competitive and resource-efficient economy, with no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050, zero pollution and a decoupling of economic growth from resource use. It is also a response to urgent challenges.
Despite progress in some areas, many trends in the farm and food sectors are going in the wrong direction. We are not on target to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals relevant to food systems.
- Agricultural emissions of greenhouse gases are rising and Member State projections to 2030 show little sign of improvement
- Ammonia emissions are rising, posing a challenge in meeting air pollution limits
- The gross nitrogen balance improved between 2000 and 2010 but there has been no further improvement up to 2015.