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On 28/09/2021, the European Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (COMENVI) supported the introduction of legally binding targets for reducing methane emissions in the EU and called for a global methane agreement during the forthcoming COP26 climate summit. Although methane emissions were reduced by 22% in the EU-28 between 1990 and 2018, COMENVI continues to account for the largest share of anthropogenic methane sources in the EU, offering the second highest overall methane reduction potential of all sectors. The numbers of livestock, especially ruminants, are the main contributors to emissions. The members of the Committee therefore call on the Member States and the Commission to put in place effective and sustainable measures to address these emissions, while ensuring that food continues to be produced in the most environmentally sustainable locations and that production is not relocated beyond the EU. Mandatory emission monitoring should be introduced for the agricultural, waste and energy sectors. The opinion was adopted by 61 votes in favour, 10 against and 7 abstentions. The plenary of the European Parliament should vote on the opinion in the week after 18/10/2021.
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The European Citizens' Initiative entitled "Save bees and farmers!" to support the end of synthetic pesticides in the EU has received the necessary support from more than one million European citizens in the past week. The European Commission will therefore have to respond to the initiative, following a public hearing to be held in the European Parliament in the coming months. The citizens' initiative calls for the use of synthetic pesticides to be reduced by 80% by 2030, and their use to be banned altogether by 2035. The initiative is in line with the efforts of the European Commission, which has proposed to reduce the volume and risks associated with the use of chemical pesticides by 50% by 2030 as part of the European Green Deal and related strategies. The last successful European initiative to gain the necessary support from European citizens was the "End of the Cage Age" initiative. The Commission has already responded to this successful initiative and committed itself to making every effort to meet the requirements of the initiative, i.e., to ban cage livestock after 2027. The European Food Safety Authority is now working to assess feasibility.
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The Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, confirmed at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on 28/09/2021 that the European Commission has not yet decided whether Nutri-Score could be the future system of harmonized mandatory nutrition labelling for food in the EU. The decision on harmonized and mandatory nutrition labelling for foods will be taken based on an impact assessment and scientific advice from the European Food Safety Authority in consultation with stakeholders and should include an evaluation of all available nutrition labelling schemes. The Commission should present impact assessments and legislative proposals during 2022.
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A study by researchers from the University of Helsinki and LUT University in Finland recommends that the food industry innovate and create more creative solutions for edible insects such as crickets, flies, and worms, so that insect protein becomes more acceptable to consumers. The study looked at the extent to which insect protein could potentially help reduce global warming associated with food consumption in Europe. The study confirms that insect protein has the greatest potential to reduce the carbon footprint of European consumers, while stating that it is more sustainable to use insects for direct consumption than as a substitute for soy flour in animal feed.
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A total of 18 Member States, including BE, LT, AT, BG, HR, CZ, EE, FI, FR, DE, EL, HU, LV, LU, MT, PL, SK, and RO, supported the activation of exceptional market measures under the single CMO Regulation to assist the pig meat sector in the EU. The coalition of these Member States is requesting support in the wake of unfavourable market developments caused by a combination of low pork prices and rising production costs. The request will be discussed at the Luxembourg Council of Agriculture Ministers on 11-12/10/2021.