{"id":300235,"date":"2024-02-07T12:39:53","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T11:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=300235"},"modified":"2024-02-07T12:39:55","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T11:39:55","slug":"victory-for-europes-farmers-as-brussels-caves-in-on-emissions-targets-and-eating-less-meat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=300235","title":{"rendered":"Victory for Europe\u2019s farmers as Brussels caves in on emissions targets and eating less meat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ursula von der Leyen offers further concession by dropping her controversial proposal to halve pesticide use within six years.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European Union has caved in to angry protests from farmers<\/a>, cutting its target to scrap specific agricultural emissions which formed part of the bloc\u2019s net zero drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A demand to reduce nitrogen, methane and other emissions linked to farming by almost a third has been\u00a0removed from a wider Brussels plan<\/a>\u00a0to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 90 per cent by 2040. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Telegraph<\/a> has the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, offered a further concession to demonstrating farmers by dropping her controversial proposal to halve pesticide use within six years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recommendation urging EU citizens to eat less meat was also removed from the plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concessions came amid mounting demonstrations<\/a> by farmers in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Romania ahead of this year\u2019s EU elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spanish farmers on Tuesday joined the movement by blockading major highways with convoys of tractors and burning tyres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, blockades on supermarket distribution centres have left shelves empty in Brussels, while several people have been injured in traffic accidents caused by farmers\u2019 protests in the Netherlands, as they dumped rubbish and set fires on highways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organisers have threatened to continue disruption in the lead-up to the European Parliament elections in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plight of the disillusioned farmers has become politically symbolic ahead of the vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To quell their angry protests, which have sometimes become violent and caused destruction to cities, Mrs von der Leyen acknowledged net zero rules targeting farmers would need to be watered down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our farmers deserve to be listened to,\u201d she told the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know that they are worried about the future of agriculture and their future as farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut they also know that agriculture needs to move to a more sustainable model of production so that their farms remain profitable in the years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commission president admitted the proposal to cut pesticide use had become a \u201csymbol of polarisation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brussels is also rowing back on planned rules on animal welfare and allowing the cultivation of land left fallow to restore nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reduction of nitrogen oxide emissions was seen as a key pillar of the EU\u2019s climate change strategy, which sparked the initial wave of farming protests in the Netherlands over the summer of 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The target means farmers will be required to reduce their livestock in order to meet the binding limit on emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs von der Leyen has also tried to get farmers on side by announcing a series of \u201cstrategic dialogues\u201d to allow them to voice their concerns directly to EU bureaucrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, offered a further concession to demonstrating farmers by dropping her controversial proposal to halve pesticide use within six years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":300127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"On Tuesday, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, offered a further concession to demonstrating farmers by dropping her controversial proposal to halve pesticide use within six years.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691826768,691819960,691826205,691826767,691826791,691819677],"class_list":{"0":"post-300235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-eat-less-meat","9":"tag-european-union","10":"tag-farmer-protest","11":"tag-reduce-nitrogen-and-methane","12":"tag-this-years-eu-elections","13":"tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/GFMah5LWEAAhJC9.jpeg?fit=2048%2C2044&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1g6v","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":300124,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=300124","url_meta":{"origin":300235,"position":0},"title":"EU drops net zero demands after farmers\u2019 protests","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/02\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The European Union has caved in to\u00a0angry protests from farmers\u00a0and cut a target to slash agricultural emissions as part of the bloc\u2019s net zero drive.","rel":"","context":"In \"Blockades\"","block_context":{"text":"Blockades","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=blockades"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/GFMah5LWEAAhJC9.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1198&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/GFMah5LWEAAhJC9.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1198&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/GFMah5LWEAAhJC9.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1198&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/GFMah5LWEAAhJC9.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1198&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/GFMah5LWEAAhJC9.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1198&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":301952,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=301952","url_meta":{"origin":300235,"position":1},"title":"Farmers are in revolt and Europe\u2019s climate policies are crumbling. 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