News

As of 08/03/2020, thirteen EU Member States as well as a number of food organizations or retailers have supported the European Plastics Pact, which aims to strengthen collection and recycling capacity for plastic packaging in the European Union by at least 25% by 2025 and to increase the recycled plastic content of packaging materials to at least 30%, while reducing virgin plastic packaging by at least 20% by 2025. Nestlé has internally set higher targets, including the provision of 100% recyclable or reusable plastic packaging materials, while reducing virgin plastic packaging use by at least a third by 2025. The European Plastics Pact has been signed, for example, by PT, FR, DE, NL, or DK and by several large food companies such as Unilever, Nestlé, Coop, Bonduelle and Friesland Campina. More information is available here and here.

On 04/03/2020 the European Commission presented a proposal for a European Climate Law, according to the President of the European Commission, the proposal for a legal framework is a measure to ensure that the European Union becomes the world's first climate-neutral continent by 2050. According to the European Commission, through its European climate framework, the European Commission proposes a legally binding target to achieve a zero GHG balance by 2050. To achieve this, the EU institutions and Member States will be required to take the necessary measures at EU and national level. Member States and EU progress will be monitored and reviewed regularly every five years under the Paris Agreement. The Commission will also set targets for 2030. By 2021, the Commission will review all relevant related policy instruments, proposing, if necessary, revising individual legislation. More information is available here and here.

On 04/03/2020, the European Commission presented a proposal for a European Climate Law, at the same time launching a public consultation on the new European Climate Pact. The European Commission states on its website that ‘the Commission will launch a European Climate Pact to give citizens and stakeholders from all parts of society a voice and role in designing new climate actions, sharing information, launching grassroots activities and showcasing solutions that others can follow. The inputs from this public consultation will be used to shape the Pact ahead of its launch before the United Nations climate change conference (COP26) taking place in Glasgow in November 2020’. The resulting text of the Climate Pact should be presented in the third quarter of 2020. The consultation is available here.

Italian MEP Paolo De Castro (S&D) and Romanian MEP Dacian Cioloş (President of Renew Europe), tabled an amendment to Parliament's draft opinion on the CAP transition period at the end of the last month. The rapporteur for this opinion is Finnish MEP Elsi Katainen (Renew). According to De Castro and Cioloş, the existing greening measures under the current Common Agricultural Policy should be extended to include new measures, given the need to combat climate change. According to De Castro and Cioloş, new measures could include the use of nitrification and precision agriculture to increase the proportion of legumes in temporary grassland, use feed supplements for cattle to reduce ammonia production, or boost milk yield through genetics. The draft opinion and individual amendments in the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development should be put to the vote at the end of April 2020. More information is available here.

The Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission (DG AGRI) confirmed Austrian candidate Wolfgang Burtscher as Director General, replacing the Polish predecessor Jerzy Plewa. Burtscher has already worked for DG AGRI from 2005 to 2009 as Director responsible for audits of agricultural policy expenditure.