EU’s “disproportionate funding” for emissions-intensive animal products fuels environmental concerns

03 Apr 2024 --- Recent research indicates that the EU has been disproportionately funding animal farming over plant cultivation through its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), raising concerns over the encouragement of environmentally damaging diets.

The study, led by researchers from the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) at Leiden University, the Netherlands, and Chatham House, UK, highlights that more than 80% of CAP subsidies—amounting to €46 billion (US$49.55 billion) out of a total €57 billion (US$61.4 billion) yearly budget—have been allocated to animal products.

Published in Nature Food, the study suggests that the financial backing has been linked to the support of emission-intensive animal-based products, which are responsible for 84% of the EU’s food-related greenhouse gas emissions.

In a statement shared with Food Ingredients First, Dr. José Mogollón, a senior author at Leiden University, says: “This disproportionate support for emission-intensive foods not only harms planetary health, but also tilts the playing field against lower-impact foods like fruits, vegetables and nuts, which remain relatively more expensive than they would be with equal support.”

Barrier to transformation
The research underscores that livestock farming requires more land and leads to the inefficient use of crops that could otherwise be directed toward human consumption. To put this into perspective, producing the same amount of protein from beef requires 20 times more land than nuts and 35 times more than grains. This allocation of resources is at odds with the EU’s goal to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

“This transition won’t happen at the speed needed without joined-up policy and subsidy reform, yet we find that CAP subsidies, the largest expense in the EU budget, give preference to high-emitting animal products,” remarks Dr. Paul Behrens, a senior author at Leiden University.

The researchers also traced feed subsidies and found that of the subsidies that support animal-based foods, €18 billion (US$19.39 billion) flows directly to livestock farmers and €21 billion (US$22.62 billion) flows to livestock feed producers.

The study calculated that the actual subsidy for animal-based foods approximately doubles when the cost of animal feed is considered, exemplified by beef subsidies increasing from €0.71/kg (US$0.76/kg) to €1.42/kg (US$1.53/kg) and pork from €0.07/kg (US$0.08/kg) to €0.28/kg (US$0.3/kg).

Global implications
The research further revealed that approximately 12% of the CAP budget is embodied in exports to non-EU countries, mainly upper-middle and high-income countries, such as China and the US.

A transition to low-emission, plant-rich diets is needed to meet international climate targets.Dr. Helen Harwatt, a senior author at Chatham House, says: “Not only is the use of public funds in the CAP very questionable from the perspective of delivering public goods within the EU, the subsidies are also influencing imports and consumption within the non-EU countries that the EU exports food to.”

“This ultimately makes the convergence on healthy and sustainable diets at the global level more difficult.”

Animal agriculture is a significant source of greenhouse gasses and a key factor in the loss of wildlife and the increase in extreme weather events due to climate change.

Recognizing these challenges, the EU has committed to directing a quarter of direct CAP payments toward “eco-schemes” from 2023 to 2027, aimed at encouraging environmentally friendly farming practices.

Anniek Kortleve, lead author of the research at Leiden University, says: “Our work demonstrates that it’s essential to account for feed in our understanding of animal agriculture, for both its economic and environmental impacts.”

“The CAP holds the potential to steer the food system to sustainability via payments for environmental outcomes, such as climate and biodiversity improvements. It would be a missed opportunity not to capitalize on this potential,” she concludes.

By Sichong Wang

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