The four globally operating corporations emphasize the urgency of reducing agriculture's negative impact on the environment. Currently, agriculture accounts for a large portion of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe, with intensive livestock farming and monocultures heavily straining ecosystems and natural values.
The food giants say that the current CAP subsidies, which often support environmentally harmful farming techniques, need to be revised to encourage regenerative agriculture and plant-based nutrition. They also state that a transition to more sustainable farming could help guarantee food security worldwide more effectively.
If the call is heeded, this would mark a major shift in the EU's agricultural policy. Revising the current per-hectare subsidy could encourage farmers to adopt environmentally friendly techniques such as agroforestry, organic farming, and reducing the use of chemical pesticides. At the same time, different subsidies could pressure the livestock sector to innovate and reduce nitrogen and methane emissions.
In addition, plant-based products could be made more attractive through fiscal incentives, enabling consumption of more sustainable alternatives. This would not only contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases but also to the protection of biodiversity and the reduction of land and water use.
Although the companies’ proposals align with broader EU sustainability goals, such as the Green Deal, they are also controversial. Some agricultural organizations fear income losses and the consequences of too rapid a transition. It therefore remains uncertain how far the European Commission is willing to go in revising the CAP, which has traditionally been heavily reliant on support for more conventional farming practices.