An EU-wide farming organisation has claimed that a vote in the European Parliament will “discourage” the uptake of carbon farming practices.
Copa Cogeca was responding to a vote in a plenary (full) session of the parliament last week in which MEPs adopted the Green Claims Directive.
The directive would oblige companies to submit evidence about their environmental marketing claims before advertising products as “biodegradable”, “less polluting”, “water saving” or having “bio-based content”.
However, Copa has expressed concern over a lack of recognition for carbon emission offsetting through credits, which the farm organisation said would be “strongly limited” under the directive.
“Copa Cogeca strongly opposes the limitations that have been voted on the use of carbon credits for offsets. We regret the fact that many restrictions will prevent farmers from fully enjoying the framework established under the certification for carbon removals,” the group said.
“Carbon credits derived from carbon farming are an accessible and readily available tool that can help the EU reach its climate targets. By preventing carbon credits from being sold in the voluntary market, or by setting strong limitations, the market is deprived from an effective tool to reduce and remove emissions,” Copa added.
The farm organisation also reiterated concerns over a potential “double verification” process for farmers to certify claims on their environmental practices.
“Farmers who already comply with the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) additional, voluntary environmental practices, for which a verification process is already foreseen, will be required to repeat the verification if they decide to communicate on them.
“Amid the commission’s announcement on urgent simplification measures for agriculture, the approach adopted appears to be in full contradictions with the trend set,” Copa said.
Copa also reacted to the adoption of the final text on the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) by the parliament, which also occurred this week.
The final text will not extend the scope of the IED to livestock farms, at least not until the commission carries out a review by 2026. However, it will apply to more pig and poultry farms than are currently impacted.
The revised IED was adopted by 306 votes in favour and 293 against. Copa said that if seven MEPs had instead voted to amend the text, the IED “would have had a chance at finally being made reasonable for all farming models”.
“For Copa Cogeca, the final outcome of the vote on the Industrial Emissions Directive is particularly disappointing because the resulting text is unfair to thousands of family pig and poultry farms,” the group said.