But Commissioner Hoekstra leaves it to the new European Commission to propose concrete measures. He does highlight some industries that could further reduce their emissions in the coming years, but he almost completely omits agriculture.
The interim proposals for after 2040 do not come out of the blue. The European climate law states that the European Commission must set milestones. According to Dutch Member of the European Parliament Mohamed Chahim (PvdA), Hoekstra is not advocating stricter criteria, but his calculation is equivalent to continuing the currently established criteria.
Now that the analysis for the period 2030 - 2040 is available, it is awaiting a new legislative proposal. This will likely become one of the points of contention for the new European Commission that takes office after the European elections in June.
According to an earlier impact analysis prepared by experts, agriculture must make a significant effort to prevent further air pollution. While earlier plans mentioned a reduction of thirty percent, those figures have now been removed from the final plan.
Earlier this week, the European Commission decided to withdraw the heavily criticized legislative proposal to reduce chemical agents, following ongoing protests by European farmers against what they call a flood of environmental restrictions on their agricultural operations.
According to Dutch Member of the European Parliament Bas Eickhout (GroenLinks), agriculture is thus given more time, meaning other sectors will have to become sustainable more quickly. “The agriculture sector is being spared again by the Commission, but even weak targets will not be met with the current efforts.”
“It’s very simple: the path to climate neutrality is incompatible with the current agriculture. Instead of sparing the sector, we need to provide clarity on how farmers can have security and earn a good living in a fundamentally different future. That also involves a different use of European subsidies,” Eickhout stated.
Member of the European Parliament Anja Haga (ChristenUnie) believes that too much should not be expected from possible future technical innovations to reduce emissions: “As long as emissions continue to rise, innovations alone are not enough. Instead of mopping up with the tap open, it’s better to just turn off the tap. That means choosing an economic model balanced with what the Earth can sustain,” Haga said.