The European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture adopted its opinion on ‘sustainable carbon cycles’ on 25 October.
The opinion, prepared by Martin Hlaváček (Renew Europe, Czech), was adopted with 36 votes in favour, 10 against and one abstention.
All the compromise amendments were adopted.
MEPs from the Greens/EFA and The Left Groups voted against the opinion. Benoît Biteau (Greens/EFA, French) criticised “the commodification of global warming”, stressing that the current state of knowledge did not allow “to know exactly how many tons of carbon are kept in the soil and for how long”.
According to Parliament’s Committee opinion, carbon farming is defined as an “economic model option that can provide new and additional sources of revenue” to reward efforts in terms of carbon absorption and emission reductions. This remuneration will ultimately depend more on the market than on public funds, according to the opinion.
A non-exhaustive list of best practice to be rewarded is provided for in the opinion (conservation agriculture, direct seeding, catch crops, re-establishment of permanent grasslands, restoration of peatlands).
The EU’s agricultural organisations and cooperatives (Copa-Cogeca) welcomed the main principles contained in the opinion: “a market-based approach, the voluntary nature of carbon farming and funding from outside the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)”.
Parliament’s Committee on Environment, which is responsible for the substance, is expected to vote on its report after the presentation of the European Commission’s proposal on Carbon removal certification, expected on 30 November. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)