Summary
The article discusses the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and its alignment with the European Green Deal (EGD). The CAP, established in 1957, aims to support the development of programs for farms and rural areas in the EU. While it has undergone reforms since its inception and has gradually incorporated more sustainable farming goals, it still faces challenges in preventing environmental degradation and achieving true sustainability. This article highlights the incompatibility between the two policies, mainly in the EGD objectives, which include protecting biodiversity, mitigating climate change, and promoting sustainable management of natural resources.
In the first part of the article, several European Union (EU) policies related to agriculture and the environment are presented. Since 2019, the EU has committed to improving its approach to climate-related issues, such as reducing pesticide use and soil degradation. The article refers to various measures, such as Agri-Environment-Climate Measures (AECM), the Farm to Fork Strategy, and Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAEC). It also addresses the 2020 CAP reform and provides recommendations for better implementing CAP strategic plans to support the EGD objectives.
To address the first EGD objective (protection of biodiversity), the article includes Table 1, which outlines the EU Green Deal objectives, CAP objectives and measures, and discrepancies between the two. The article suggests reevaluating payments based on hectares or “livestock” numbers to prevent agricultural intensification, which negatively affects biodiversity. Table 2 provides additional recommendations to facilitate the integration of CAP and the EU Green Deal.
Regarding the second EGD objective (climate change mitigation and adaptation), the article identifies mismatches between the EGD and CAP, such as net emissions, lack of afforestation and reforestation strategies, and insufficient guidelines for protecting soil organic matter. The article suggests strategies to fulfill this objective, such as member-states implementing climate measures to reduce carbon emissions by 55% by 2030, offering incentives for downsizing livestock in favor of less intensive practices, and creating national programs to protect peatlands and marshlands.
The article briefly discusses the issues related to increased livestock production and soy importation for livestock feeds, which leads to deforestation in South America. The article suggests discouraging unhealthy consumption of animal products to benefit the environment and public health.
Figure 1 illustrates the positive results of the strategies “synergy” and how the EGD objectives can work together providing a virtuous circle in the agriculture policies.
The final part of the article reflects on the fragility of unsustainable food systems, highlighting the effects on food security during global crises, such as the recent Russian-Ukrainian war. The article concludes by acknowledging the potential of CAP to bring positive changes to consumption patterns, climate emergencies, and agricultural systems, emphasizing its importance in maintaining food security and socioeconomic stability.
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the European Union's main instrument for agricultural planning, with a new reform approved for 2023–2027. The CAP intends to align with the European Green Deal (EGD), a set of policy initiatives underpinning sustainable development and climate neutrality in the European Union (EU), but several flaws cast doubts about the compatibility of the objectives of these 2 policies. We reviewed recent literature on the potential of CAP environmental objectives for integration with the EGD: protection of biodiversity, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and sustainable management of natural resources. The CAP lacks appropriate planning measures, furthering instead risks to biodiversity and ecosystem services driven by landscape and biotic homogenization. Funding allocation mechanisms are not tailored to mitigate agricultural emissions, decreasing the efficiency of climate mitigation actions. The legislation subsidies farmers making extensive use of synthetic inputs without adequately supporting organic production, hindering the transition toward sustainable practices. We recommend proper control mechanisms be introduced in CAP Strategic Plans from each member state to ensure the EU is set on a sustainable production and consumption path. These include proportional assignment of funds to each CAP objective, quantitative targets to set goals and evidence-based interventions, and relevant indicators to facilitate effective monitoring of environmental performance. Both the CAP and the EGD should maintain ambitious environmental commitments in the face of crisis to avoid further degradation of the natural resources on which production systems stand.