The EU budget’s contribution to climate action in agriculture has been overstated by a whopping €60 billion, according to a damning new auditors report which also sheds light on the neglected implementation phase of policy-making.
Auditors found the European Commission’s reporting on climate beset with weaknesses and reliability issues: instead of promised €216 billion, climate-relevant spending in the EU 2014-20 budget was overstated by at least €72 billion.
In practice, this means that not all the reported climate-related spending under the previous seven-year budget was actually relevant to climate action.
According to the auditors, one of the main reasons is that current reporting is done before the expenditures are actually spent, meaning unused or non-disbursed funds inflate figures.
“Funding should not count as climate-relevant if there is no evidence to support this,” Joëlle Elvinger, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) member who led the audit, said during the presentation of the study on Monday (30 May).
The area that the Commission was found to have most miscalculated? The EU’s farming subsidy programme, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), by almost €60 billion – or, in other words, 80% of likely overestimation.
The report also generally undermines the real “climate-relativity” of CAP direct payments to farmers. “Highly uncertain, but probably low” is the Commission’s own verdict on the impact of greening on mitigation. At the same time, other studies demonstrate the only minimal impact of greening, with changes in farming practices on 2-5 % of farmland.
Auditors refer to the previous CAP programme – still temporarily in force until the end of the year – which introduced the payment instrument of ‘greening’ to encourage agricultural practices beneficial for the environment.
The greening instrument has now evolved into the voluntary eco-scheme mechanism and, in general, in the green architecture of the CAP reform, which will start next year.
In this sense, the greening component of direct payments – worth a cool €28 billion – was considered climate-relevant.
Let’s add some more ointment to the bunch of these buzzing flies: the auditors “did not criticise the methodology in itself, but mainly the way the Commission puts it into practice.”
The methodology for quantifying climate spending is based on assigning coefficients to EU programme components such as intervention fields or projects, following their expected contribution to climate action.
And ECA’s Elvinger said that the Commission was not always conservative in assigning the climate coefficients as, for instance, the EU executive has already adjusted or clarified the climate coefficients for some funding programmes to improve alignment with their actual contribution to climate action.
To make climate reporting more reliable, the auditors also recommended the Commission identify and report on EU spending with a potentially negative impact on climate, building on the “do no significant harm” principle, defined in the EU taxonomy.
The Commission, for its part, has already shown willingness to improve: in its forthcoming performance report for the EU budget to be published this month, they will exclude mistakenly added national contributions from member states – which does not come from the EU budget – from the overall figure on climate.
“Following one of our recommendations, the Commission will also enhance the climate reporting to take stock of the unused (unspent and de-committed) amounts”, Joëlle Elvinger explained.
So, what lesson can we draw from this report? Essentially, climate reporting has been, so far, better on paper than in action – or, in other words, the Commission’s action was all bark, not bite.
But also that a lot of public interest and media emphasis is quite often more focused on the decision making phase, neglecting implementation, which is just as important.
This trend can also be seen in the 2023-2027 CAP programme, particularly if we compare the intensive coverage of the inter-institutional negotiations (anyone remember the infamous veggie burger?) with the relatively low reach on mainstream media of the debate around national strategic plans – not on EURACTIV, of course, where you can even find a tracker on that.
Another interesting aspect is how climate spending will be reported in future, considering that the new CAP’s implementation will be heavily dependent on member states.
The decentralisation of the EU’s farming subsidies could complicate the lives of EU auditors but also of journalists and other CAP watchdogs, making the assessment of the implementation of this big slice of EU taxpayers’ money even tougher.
By Yaroslava Bukhta
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Podcast
In this special edition of the EURACTIV agrifood podcast, EURACTIV’s agrifood team takes you on a tour of 7 of Europe’s capitals, including France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Slovakia, Poland and Ireland, to hear about their Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) strategic plans, through which member states explain how they intend to meet the objectives of the new CAP reform. How are these evolving in light of the Ukraine war? Where are they at in the approval process? EURACTIV’s network explains more.
Agrifood stories of the week
African Union and EU agree united stance on food security amid famine warnings
The EU and the African Union have agreed on a united message on food security which places the blame for disruptions to food supply squarely on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s shoulders amid warnings of a “catastrophic” famine. Natasha Foote reports from the European Council.
EU steps up efforts to debunk Putin’s food security propaganda
The EU is planning an offensive to counter Russian narratives as to which Western sanctions are made responsible for the disruption to global supply of grains and fertilisers, EURACTIV.com has learnt.
Von der Leyen urges EU to step up food production, Africa to boost precision farming
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called for the EU and Africa to step up efforts on food production, including via innovative farming techniques such as precision farming, in light of the war in Ukraine. Natasha Foote has more.
EU leaders to consider ‘all available ways’ to bypass Russian food export blockade
EU leaders will consider all available ways to circumvent the food export blockade imposed by Russia on Ukraine’s ports, including a naval mission to escort cargo ships, but will not concede to Russia’s demands to lift sanctions, sources told EURACTIV’s agrifood team. Learn more.
Parliament, Council seal provisional deal on agricultural statistics reform
Negotiators struck a provisional deal on the EU’s agricultural statistics review on Thursday (2 June) after more than a year of discussion on the controversial file, although for environmental campaigners, the agreement leaves a lot to be desired. Natasha Foote has the details.
Glyphosate does not cause cancer, says EU committee
It is “not justified” to conclude that the herbicide glyphosate causes cancer, an expert committee inside the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has said, invoking widespread criticism from health and environmental campaigners. Julia Dahm has the details.
Berlin and Brussels find nitrate compromise after decade-long debate
After a 10 year back-and-forth, Germany’s agriculture ministry has found a compromise with the European Commission over implementing the EU’s Nitrate Directive, meaning the country will likely avoid multi-million euro fines. EURACTIV Germany reports.
Agri-bites
African Union representative to meet Putin. The head of the African Union, Macky Sall, is set to meet Putin on Friday (3 June) in Russia, according to AFP. The visit aims to ” free up stocks of cereals and fertilisers, the blockage of which particularly affects African countries” and comes just days after Sall addressed EU leaders, where they agreed on a unified stance against Putin’s narrative that it is sanctions causing food insecurity.
Less controls, faster export. Poland temporarily abolished veterinary controls for transit grain cargoes on its territory. The simplified regime will come into force on Tuesday (31 May). Veterinary control of feed of plant origin, including feed grain, in transit through Poland to third countries was one of the causes of delays in grain export from Ukraine. Read more here. What is more, Ukraine and Poland signed a Memorandum on developing trade facilitation instruments, which establishes the instrument to provide insurance for transport and cargo that Polish partners will import to Ukraine.
When the turn for export comes. Cargo transportation from Ukraine to Romania via the Vadul-Siret-Dornesti border crossing will happen on schedule. This was discussed during a meeting of Ukrzaliznytsia with carriers from Romania and Moldova on Wednesday (1 June). According to the rail workers, this should have a positive effect on freight traffic through this crossing, in particular, to reduce the queue of cars to it. More than 5,700 cars, of which almost 4,000 carry grain cargo. Read more.
EU school scheme expanded for Ukrainian school children. This week, the European Commission published a regulation allowing for internal redistribution of the EU aid under the EU school scheme to cater for displaced Ukrainian children enrolled in EU schools. The EU school scheme aims at promoting healthy eating and balanced diets through the distribution of fruit, vegetables and milk products to schoolchildren while also proposing educational programmes on agriculture and good nutrition. Learn more.
Support for the Greek livestock sector. The European Commission has approved a €50 million Greek scheme to support the livestock sector in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said that this scheme would enable Greece to support livestock breeders affected by the input costs increase caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the related sanctions. “We continue to stand with Ukraine and its people. At the same time, we continue working closely with member states to ensure that national support measures can be put in place in a timely, coordinated and effective way while protecting the level playing field in the single market,” she said.
EAT-Lancet 2.0. This Friday (3 June), the second EAT-Lancet Commission will launch at Stockholm+50 with the goal to revise global science-based targets for healthy diets and sustainable food production and “chart a course to a resilient food future that helps us to tackle human health, conflict and climate,” according to a statement released ahead of the launch.
Carbon farming explainer. Carbon Farming has become a buzzword at the EU level, but what truly is carbon farming? EU farmers’ association COPA-COGECA released a new video this week to explain it from a farming perspective. Check it out here.
New faces in new places. Luis Uribe, CEO of Nutrition & Santé (France), has been elected as the new President of the European Plant-Based Foods Association (ENSA). In a statement marking the announcement of his election, Uribe said that European companies in the plant-based foods sector have “the collective responsibility to offer consumers tasty, nutritious, convenient and sustainable foods”. “As members of ENSA, we want to play our part in informing public policies which will make the sustainable choice, the easy choice,” he said.
Agrifood news from the CAPitals
FRANCE
French farm lobby remains a force to be reckoned with. Agriculture is the sector in France that draws the second-biggest amount of lobbying investments, right after health, according to a new study. The influence of the farm lobby and its deep-reaching ties with decision-makers have lately resurfaced as a topic of debate in the country. EURACTIV France has more.
GERMANY
More obese children in Germany after pandemic. Campaigners have called to ramp up action on healthy diets after new data published by polling institute Forsa on Tuesday (31 May) showed that one in three German children between the ages of 10 and 12 had gained weight since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. The poll also found that around a quarter of children consumed more sweets than before the pandemic, and almost 50% exercised less. “Obesity is a huge problem for children,” food watch campaigner Saskia Reinbeck said. The organisation called on the government to take action. “Within this year, we need a strong law that protects kids and teens from unhealthy junk food ads,” Reinbeck said. (Julia Dahm I EURACTIV.de)
AUSTRIA
Agri minister defends contentious animal welfare package. Austria’s new agriculture minister, Norbert Totschnig, has defended the government’s animal welfare package against criticism. The package “reflects the biggest development in the existence of the federal animal protection law,” the conservative minister said in an interview with national daily Der Standard. The legislative proposals had been tabled by Totschnig’s predecessor before she stepped down several weeks ago but had drawn criticism from stakeholders and other parties for not going far enough in terms of animal welfare. (Julia Dahm I EURACTIV.de)
SPAIN
Spain’s grain harvest expected to fall by a fifth due to drought. The cereal harvest in Spain will fall by 21% due to the high temperatures and the lack of rain in the month of May, which have ruined the good prospects for the campaign, according to forecasts from the agricultural organisation Asaja. EURACTIV’s partner EFE Agro has more.
CROATIA
EU auditors comb wine subsidies in Croatia. European auditors spent last week in Zagreb combing books for possible irregularities in payments made under the so-called ‘wine envelope’, the Nacional.hr website reported. Learn more.
ITALY
Italy to make the most of EU flexibility. Italy will use all the flexibility granted by the EU for voluntary coupled support, dedicating to that an overall 15% of the annual ceiling for direct payments for a total of €525 million per year. In particular, 2% of this coupled support will be allocated to increasing protein crops. The coupled support links the receipt of direct payments to the production of specific products, which has been criticised in the past as it led to overproduction without genuine market demand, leading the recent Common Agricultural Policy spending to be more and more ‘decoupled’. (Gerardo Fortuna | EURACTIV.com)
UKRAINE
Response to Russian hunger games. Ukraine is working on an international UN-led operation with partners’ navies, ensuring a safe trade route with no security risks. This was announced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba. According to experts in Ukraine, unblocking of seaports would reduce the economic decline in Ukrainian GDP from 30% to 22-25%.
GREECE
Aquaculture as a driver of growth in food production. Greek food minister Georgios Georgantas has highlighted the important contribution of aquaculture to the development of the country’s primary sector and economy. Greek aquaculture products currently dominate the European and international market, as 80% of production is exported to more than 40 countries, the minister said on Saturday (28 May). Referring to the problems faced by new businesses in the sector, he pointed out that the government has included aquaculture in its strategic investments. Funding sources also include the € 0.5 billion Operational Programme for Fisheries and Sea (OPFS) and the Covid Recovery Fund. (Georgia Evangelia Karagianni| EURACTIV.gr)
Events
Until 5 June | EU Green Week 2022
6-9 June | European Parliament’s plenary in Strasbourg
7 June | Special Committee on Agriculture SCA meeting
7 – 9 June | Investment food forum – Berlin (DE)
8 June | Social innovation in shrinking villages
8 June | Global Food Summit – Ambassadors for bioeconomy
8 – 9 June | Behaviour of pesticides in air, soil and water (DE)
7 June | World Food Safety Day
[Edited by Alice Taylor]