Agriculture accounts for 13.1 percent of greenhouse gas emissions produced by the 27 EU member states. The sector's emissions have fallen only slightly from 2021, with only a 4 percent fall at EU level expected by 2030 compared to 2005 levels, data from the European Environment Agency shows.
Ottmar Edenhofer, chairman of the European Scientific Advisory Committee on Climate Change, told the Financial Times last week that it would be "almost impossible" to achieve the Commission's target of cutting emissions by 90 percent by 2040 without a tax on agricultural emissions.
"The price signal is important because without a price signal it is very unlikely that we will be able to reduce emissions," Edenhofer said.
In June, Denmark became the first country in the world to agree to a law that would impose a carbon tax on its livestock emissions. (Philippa Nuttall, more at sustainableviews.com)