EU dumped lab meats from climate plans on farm chief's demand - POLITICO Europe
EU dumped lab meats from climate plans on farm chief’s demand - POLITICO
BRUSSELS — The European Commission scrubbed a push to promote lab-grown and plant-based meats from a key climate proposal at the urging of Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski.
The EU released proposed plans for a strict new climate goal for 2040 on Tuesday. The announcement was marked by several concessions to the farming industry. None of those were enough for Wojciechowski, who, emails seen by POLITICO reveal, wanted to see the agriculture sector entirely exempted from the climate plan.
According to an email exchange from early Tuesday morning, Daniel Mes, a member of Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra’s cabinet, wrote to Wojciechowski’s adviser Joanna Stawowy to advise that, “we have now removed all references to “protein” (i.e. “lab-made meat”) from the text, per the request.”
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”