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On 24/02/2021, the European Commission adopted a new European strategy for adaptation to climate change, the strategy identifies progress in preparing for the inevitable impacts of climate change. The new strategy is based on the strategy from 2013, but offers new possible solutions and their implementation, and reflects the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. According to the Commission, all sections of society and all levels of government must be involved in climate adaptation, and adaptation measures must be based on reliable data and risk assessment tools for all. The Commission will reflect on adaptation measures in all relevant EU policy areas, and cooperation should be strengthened both regionally and internationally. By 2050, the EU should be a climate-resilient society, fully adapted to the inevitable effects of climate change. The European Commission emphasizes the need to enhance species diversity and mentions the disadvantages associated with the fragmentation of landscape elements. Drought adaptation measures include sustainable (re)use of water, management of land and land cover, preference for drought-resistant plant species, or vertical agriculture. The Commission also emphasizes the importance of including climate adaptation measures in the CAP Strategic Plans, stating that precision agriculture could be one of the possible measures to be supported. The largest European agricultural organization, Copa & Cogeca, welcomed the new strategy, emphasizing the importance of new breeding techniques and precision agriculture as one of the options for adapting to climate change in agriculture.
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The European Commission plans to present a new EU Action Plan for Organic Farming on 31/03/2021, the Action Plan will be a part of the European Green Deal, complementing the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies. Both strategies equally set the goal of expanding the area of organic farming to 20% of the area of agricultural land by 2030. The Action Plan for Organic Farming should help meet this goal. In the Action Plan, the European Commission will focus mainly on three areas, i.e. strengthening the demand and consumption of organic products (including focusing on strengthening the visibility of European organic labelling, or focusing on public procurement in the field of food supply to schools, canteens or hospitals). ), to strengthen and support production (here the Commission will focus on linking with the CAP Strategic Plans), and strengthening the contribution of the organic farming sector to environmental protection and sustainability. The European Commission has almost drafted the Action Plan, it is currently the subject of an internal discussion within the Commission, according to the available information, the proposal still lacks specific goals or deadlines for achieving these goals. Elena Panichi (Head of Organic Farming) and her representative Henri Delanghe are involved in the preparation of the Action Plan by DG AGRI. The European NGO representing organic farmers IFOAM has called on the Commission to introduce mandatory public procurement rules for all European schools, nurseries, and public canteens to increase the supply of organic products in these establishments, and the share of organic production in public canteens should then increase every year. IFOAM also proposes linking the CAP with measures to support organic farming, and the European organic production labelling scheme should be revised.

The European Union, together with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), has launched the Global Alliance on Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency (GACERE). The Alliance is part of the Circular Economy Action Plan under the Green Deal and focuses on the transition to an efficient, clean, and circular economy to combat the environmental crisis.
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The European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT) estimates that around 40% of the EU's 10 million agricultural workers, around 4 million, suffer from exploitation, illegal employment, and precarious working conditions. EU Member States have their own legislation aimed at minimizing these practices, but as part of negotiations on the shape of the new Common Agricultural Policy, there is now increasing pressure to make part of CAP payments conditional on compliance with so-called social conditionality rules. This is a key aspect of the future CAP for the European Parliament's second largest political group S&D, according to German MEP Marie Noichl (S&D), failure to include social conditionality in the final text could lead to the whole S&D political group rejecting final approval of the CAP in the EP plenary. According to the S&D, compliance with the rules on social conditionality should be subject to inspections on farms, and in the event of non-compliance, farmers would have to repay part of the subsidies provided to them from the CAP. According to the S&D, working conditions could also be included in the list of specific objectives of the CAP and would therefore also have to be included in the national strategic plans of the CAP. Portugal also supports social conditionality, but within the Council, opposition to the introduction of new additional conditionality in the CAP is growing. Austria, together with CZ, SK, BE, BG, HR, CY, FI, GR, HU, LV, MT, and RO, has drawn up its own opinion stating that any form of additional cross-compliance would significantly increase the administrative burden, especially in control and sanction system. As a solution, these thirteen countries propose to strengthen the role of agricultural advisory services so that these services can provide all necessary information to farmers and agricultural workers. The functionality of this measure should be evaluated by the Commission three years after implementation. The largest European agricultural organization, Copa & Cogeca, also opposes the proposal to introduce social conditionality, supporting the implementation of national rules at national level rather than a European solution.
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On 25/02/2021, the Greens' political faction in the European Parliament published a new report on fraud, corruption, and the misuse of CAP funds. The report focuses on the situation in five EU Member States - BG, CZ, HU, RO, and SK. At the end of the report, the Greens propose several recommendations for the European Commission. Recommendations include gathering information on the final beneficiaries of CAP subsidies, but also on the purposes for which the funds are subsequently used; ensuring thorough audits and controls on the management of subsidies at national and EU level; ensuring the independence of the paying agencies in the Member States; or ensuring the implementation of appropriate legislation (Article 61) to avoid conflicts of interest.
More information is available here and here.