The EEB published in October a paper outlining opportunities, risks and challenges associated with an Emissions Trading System for agriculture (Agri ETS) and sets out recommendations.
In September, the final report published under the Strategic Dialogue on the future of EU agriculture called on the Commission and stakeholders to further assess the feasibility and relevance of an Agri ETS. Such a system would put a price on emissions from the agri-food sector and introduce an emissions cap that would decrease every year. The EEB does not call for a single ETS system covering all agricultural emissions but proposes to tackle the most relevant emissions like the livestock emissions or the emissions from the application of synthetic fertilisers on agricultural lands. Including the later would make synthetic fertiliser producers accountable for the emissions resulting from the application of their products, and not only from their production as it is currently the case. The EEB believes that it will effectively increase the production cost of synthetic fertilisers and provide a strong incentive for farmers to use them more efficiently or to substitute them. However, the EEB recommends that emission reductions and removals or land carbon sequestration should be kept out of an Agri ETS.