News

The European Commission is also considering options for decarbonising transport and reducing the climate and environmental impact of fuel production as part of meeting the objectives of the European Green Deal. Last year, the European Commission proposed a revision of the 2003 Energy Taxation Directive, whose current tax rates do not consider the environmental impact of certain energy products. According to Commission representatives, for example, the Energy Taxation Directive does not contain any link between fuel tax rates and their energy content or environmental impact. In addition, the 2003 rules do not keep pace with the development of new and alternative fuels, such as advanced biofuels and hydrogen. According to the European Commission, there are rates in favour of fossil fuels in some countries, but the new EU system should ensure that the most polluting fuels are taxed the most, according to Commission representatives. The lowest minimum rate of €0.15/GJ applies to electricity, low carbon fuels, non-biological renewable fuels, and advanced sustainable biofuels, bioliquids and biogas. Another category is sustainable but not advanced fuels (sustainable biofuels are all biofuels that meet the criteria of sustainability and greenhouse gas savings), including biofuels, bioliquids and biogas. Here, the tax rate should be €5.38/GJ. Conventional fossil fuels, such as petrol, will be charged the highest rate, €10.75/GJ. However, sustainable biofuels from food and feed crops should also fall into this category.
More information is available here.

The Swiss food company Nestlé has established the Nestlé Institute of Agricultural Sciences. The new Institute is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. Nestlé's goal is to support and accelerate the extensive changes needed to introduce new sustainable farming practices, key to sustainable food production. The institute should focus on phytosanitary, dairy cows, reducing emissions in the dairy sector, developing regenerative agricultural practices, and improving biodiversity and soil health. Nestlé plans to invest around CHF 1.7 billion annually in research and development and involving more than 4,000 researchers and experts on 23 sites around the world.
More information is available here.

Last week, the European Parliament and the Council began negotiations on strengthening agricultural statistics databases, but the positions of the institutions are not uniform. The European Commission's proposal for a regulation on agricultural input-output statistics (SAIO) is needed for the structured collection of agri-food data, without which it will not be possible to fully monitor the implementation of the Biodiversity Strategy and Farm to Fork (reduction of pesticide use, reduction of fertilizer use and strengthening of environmental protection). However, in its opinion, the Council proposes to modify the Commission's proposal, but according to the European Parliament, the Council's proposals could hinder the EU's statistical agency Eurostat from publishing detailed data. The Council also proposes, for example, postponing the implementation of the regulation until 2026 and setting the frequency of data collection only every 5 years, and only on authorized pesticides - i.e., without statistics on emergency authorizations of banned substances. The Council seeks to reduce administrative and financial burdens. However, the European Parliament considers a comprehensive SAIO to be a key aspect of ensuring progress.

In July, the European Commission presented a proposal for a revision of the Regulation on Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF). LULUCF is revised in line with increasing pressure on carbon sequestration in the soil, the European Commission has proposed to increase the current target of sequestration of 225 million tonnes of carbon to 310 million tonnes, this final target should be achieved through binding national targets. Member States should be required to submit national emission reduction targets, and emissions from forestry should not be higher than those achieved by carbon sequestration in forestry. In addition, the Commission has proposed a new policy framework covering all agricultural emissions in the areas of land use, land use change and forestry, as well as those currently covered by the Effort Sharing Regulation. This so-called pillar of AFOL (agriculture, forestry, and other land uses) should help achieve pan-European climate neutrality in these combined sectors by 2035. The European Parliament is now preparing its opinion on the draft revision, the leading negotiator of the European Parliament is the Finnish MEP Ville Niinistö (Greens, COMENVI), but he does not agree with the proposal to include emissions from agriculture in LULUCF. According to him, this would lead to emissions from the agricultural sector being offset by forest capture, and the agricultural sector would not be sufficiently motivated to reduce emissions. On the contrary, the largest political group in the European Parliament, EPP, as well as some MEPs in the COMAGRI, supports the Commission's proposal. Norbert Lins (EPP, DE), Chairman of COMAGRI, stated that he had only reservations about the draft COMENVI opinion by Niinistö. Lins is responsible for drafting COMAGRI's opinion on LULUCF - for some articles, the committees have shared competences. According to Linse, emissions should be combined, he also suggested setting a target of 295 million tonnes of carbon for 2031. However, Niinistö proposes a significant boost of the target, up to 490 million tonnes of carbon by 2030. The views of both committees are therefore currently very different, and negotiations will continue in the coming weeks.
More information is available here.

In recent weeks, China has confirmed its interest in becoming a superpower in the production of alternative proteins. China is currently one of the world's largest consumers of meat and eggs. China has also included laboratory-grown meat and other "foods of the future" in its new national five-year agricultural plan to maintain food security, including, for example, plant-based egg alternatives. According to representatives of European non-governmental organizations focused on representing producers of alternative proteins (Good Food Institute), China's actions should be a warning signal for the EU. So far, the pace of laboratory meat development has been largely set by Europe, but the situation may change after China enters the market.
More information is available here.