The European Commission has recommended ambitious new climate targets for the European Union to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 90 per cent by 2040 while ditching references to the role of agriculture and plans to curb pesticide use after protests by farmers.
Commission president Ursula von der Leyen faces a political balancing act on green issues as her centre-right European People’s Party fears a backlash from disaffected rural voters in coming European elections, putting pressure on environmental legislation she previously championed.
The stakes were made clear by commission calculations that a failure to take climate action would cost €2.4 trillion between 2031 and 2050 due to the havoc of extreme weather and other damage, compared to a scenario in which the EU did manage to limit global warming to the 1.5 degrees Celsius promised in the international Paris Agreement.
The commission’s proposals for new EU emissions reduction targets, which were unveiled on Tuesday and must now be negotiated with parliament, were high in ambition but dropped references to emissions cuts in the agriculture sector.
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Ms von der Leyen announced the withdrawal of proposed legislation to half the use of pesticides by 2030, part of efforts to restore the health of soils and reverse a collapse in insect populations.
“Our farmers deserve to be listened to,” Ms von der Leyen told the parliament. “Farmers need a worthwhile business case for nature-enhancing measures. Perhaps we have not made that case convincingly.”
It comes after the commission last week froze plans to require farmers to leave part of their land fallow and allow the recovery of nature, announced as furious farmers began to encircle Brussels with tractors.
Demonstrations by farmers in countries including France and Germany fuelled by anger at rising costs and climate plans have led to a series of concessions from governments, including the reversal of a plan by Paris to reduce subsidies for agricultural fuel.
An earlier draft of the proposed EU emissions targets had stated that agriculture would need to cut non-carbon dioxide emissions by 30 per cent by 2040 compared to 2015 levels, but this was not in the final version.
European commissioner for climate action Wopke Hoekstra told the parliament that a “balanced approach” was required.
“The vast majority of our citizens sees the effects of climate change, does want protection, but is also worried about what that implies for their livelihood,” he said.
The commission recommended that the EU cut net greenhouse gas emissions by 90 per cent by 2040 compared to their levels in 1990, which would require a vast overhaul of the continent’s economic and energy systems, particularly in a shift away from fossil fuels.
“Inaction would lead to larger and growing costs for our economy. The costs and human impact of the climate crisis are already evident and they are intensifying, affecting all facets of life, society and the economy,” the commission warned.
In a conservative estimate, the size of the EU’s economy would be about 7 per cent lower by the end of the century “in the absence of strong mitigation efforts”, according to the commission.
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