Farm organisations in the EU are calling for “further finetuning” of the EU’s climate targets for 2040 to ensure a just transition for farmers, foresters, and agricultural co-operatives.

Copa Cogeca, the group representing EU farm organisations co-operatives, was responding to the preliminary votes and positions adopted at EU level on the bloc's climate and emissions reduction targets for 2040.

Those climate targets were adopted by the Council of the EU earlier this month.

Following a vote in the European Parliament, the parliament and the council are now set to enter into trilogue negotiations to finalise the legal text to put those targets into force.

Copa Cogeca called on the council and parliament to clarify the “critical points” for farmers.

The targets outlined include a 90% reduction target in greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. This will be made up of an 85% reduction in domestic emissions complimented by “high quality” carbon credits accounting for the remaining 5%.

Copa Cogeca raised concerns that this latter option may have a negative impact on the EU’s domestic market for voluntary carbon removals.

Copa welcomed the emphasis in the targets on safeguarding food security, competitiveness, and the viability of rural areas.

Copa said the proposal acknowledges the need for flexibility across and within sectors; the “natural variaiblity” and uncertainties in the land use and forestry sectors; and the “structural limits” of carbon removals given the land sector’s role in the wider bioeconomy.

The farm organisation said it welcomes the recognistion in the proposal for concerns from the agriculture and forestry sectors.

However, Copa said the upcoming trilogues offer a “critical opportunity” to refine the text and address elements that remain missing.

These elements, according to Copa, include an explicit commitment for funding for farmers outside the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to support the transition in agriculture and forestry, in recognition that additional obligations must be matched with adequate investment.

Copa also called for a clear reassurance on the development of domestic voluntary carbon markets to ensure predictable demand for EU-based carbon removals and avoiding unintended negative impact from the potential use of international credits.

Copa also wants to see the exclusion of biochar from the scope of permanent carbon removals that will eligible. Copa said that excluding biochar will enable the scaling of “innovative carbon sequestration pathways within the agricultural sector”.

"As trilogues begin, Copa and Cogeca will continue to advocate for a framework that ensures fair, evidence-based mitigation expectations, robust enabling conditions, and sufficient financial and policy support for land-based sectors," the farm organisation said in a statement.

"Ensuring this balance is indispensable to maintaining competitiveness, food security, rural vitality, and the credibility of the EU's path to climate neutrality by 2040 and beyond," Copa added.