Low-carbon agriculture is a French priority and the Agriculture Council is expected to adopt conclusions in March or April that analyse the European Commission’s communication on ‘Sustainable Carbon Cycles’, said French Minister Julien Denormandie on Monday 17 January in Brussels.
On Monday, the Agriculture Council discussed the European Commission’s text on sustainable carbon cycles that was presented on 15 December.
The topic of carbon farming will be discussed on Tuesday 8 February by EU agriculture ministers at an informal meeting to be held in Strasbourg.
The communication includes a list of actions to kick-start carbon farming in the short term, and then upscale it across the EU, said Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski. “A key step for scaling up carbon farming will be the regulatory framework for certification of carbon removals based on a robust and transparent carbon accounting, planned for adoption at the end of 2022”, said the Commissioner.
EU Agriculture Ministers generally gave their support to the objectives set out in the Communication, but raised a number of questions about the feasibility of the scheme.
Slovakia mentioned a number of risks (high input costs, administrative burden) and called for sources of funding outside the CAP.
Poland also requested simple and easy-to-implement mechanisms.
Portugal emphasised the need to ensure that the process was transparent.
For Germany, the sustainability of CO2 storage and the elimination of emission shifts need to be considered and “double support” should be avoided (since there are also CAP eco-regimes).
“Duplications” should be avoided, Italy also said.
Spain hopes that these measures will result in “ additional income” for farmers, although a transparent methodology for carbon credits is needed, it says. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)