News

Ukraine, the UN and Turkey announced on 17/11/2022 the extension of the agreement negotiated with Russia over the summer to free up three Ukrainian Black Sea ports for sea food exports by 120 days (4 months). However, Russia has not yet publicly acknowledged the extension of the agreement. During weeks of negotiations, Ukraine pushed for a one-year extension of the deal. But the demands went unheeded, possibly because Russia failed to make progress on its own demands in the talks, namely, to win relief from Western financial sanctions against the state-owned Russian Agricultural Bank and the reopening of a key ammonia export pipeline.
More information is available here.

The G20 summit in Bali on 15-16/11/2022 discussed the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its consequences. Country representatives called for an accelerated transformation towards sustainable and resilient agriculture, food systems and supply chains as a tool to save lives, prevent world hunger and malnutrition and support developing countries. G20 leaders also pledged to take coordinated action for a strong and resilient global recovery and sustainable development, as well as action to support food and energy security and market stability.

The European Parliament, the Commission and the Member States reached an agreement last week on the draft Regulation on Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF). All three parties agreed to raise the EU's target for net carbon absorption by natural sinks to 310 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent by 2030, roughly 15% more than now. The new EU target effectively increases the EU's 2030 GHG reduction target from 55% to 57%, as the contribution of net absorption to the 55% 2030 GHG reduction target was limited to 225 million tons of CO₂ equivalent. The agreement must now be formally approved by the European Parliament and the Council, after which the new legislation will be published in the Official Journal of the Union and enter into force.
More information is available here.

On 08/11/2022, the European institutions - the Parliament, the Council and the Commission - reached an agreement on the EU Effort Sharing Regulation. Under the new rules, stricter emission reduction targets will be set. Sectors not covered by the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) will have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to 2005 (the target is currently set at 29%). These include road and domestic shipping, buildings, agriculture, waste and small industries. The new agreement maintains the increased national targets allocated to individual Member States under the Commission's proposal but modifies how Member States can use existing flexibility to meet their targets. The agreement must now be formally approved by the European Parliament and the Council, after which the new legislation will be published in the Official Journal of the Union and enter into force.
More information is available here and here.

Italy's new Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, Francesco Lollobrigida, last week rejected support for some food production methods, including lab-grown meat. Lollobrigida said he would do everything to bring the agri-food sector back to the centre of the discussion. According to him, the agricultural and food sector is often attacked by new methods and procedures with which society does not agree, including laboratory-grown meat. Lollobrigida emphasized the need to ensure food sovereignty not only in Italy, according to him, people do not only have the right to food, but they also have the right to eat properly.
More information is available here.